Last March, the Provincial Government of Ontario initiated a study to discover
"how to ensure our economy and people remain globally competitive and prosperous."
The results are summarized in yesterday's Toronto Star, one conclusion being:
"We are moving to an economy that values people's creativity, especially a combination of analytical skills – reasoning in uncertain environments to make good decisions – and social intelligence skills – capabilities to understand other people and to work in team settings."
Given this conclusion, if one purpose of school is to prepare our students best for their futures (and given Sir Ken Robinson's assertion that almost all education systems kill creativity), then can't we conclude that we are doing our students a disservice? Limiting creativity leads to a less prosperous future these days...
Given the range of potential ways -- using available technology today -- that schools could foster student creativity, it is of concern that some Boards / Schools / Teachers don't fully embrace the potential of Web 2.0: arguably the number one way in which the students of today DO practice and express their individual creativities.
(Quotes above taken from The Toronto Star article -- "Ontario's prosperity hinges on creativity." 5 February, 2009. -- available here).
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1 comment:
Hi Ross. According to the CBC Radio One this morning (Feb. 5) the one sector that may survive the recession, job cuts, job losses, is in the area of creativity (movie industry etc.)-go figure. Are we preparing our students? Shelley
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