If you are a creativity and innovation freak, you probably have already seen the excellent Newsweek article titled “The Creativity Crisis.” It’s rapidly becoming one of the most shared FaceBook links I’ve seen.

If you haven’t read it, by all means do, it’s the best piece I’ve seen in recent years related to creativity, education, and it’s impact on the American economy.  For those of us in the field, it’s somewhat old news, we’ve been screaming this for years, but nothing like a major news publication to get it on the radar. The recent research is a real eye opener, especially the part that says creativity scores are a better indicator of eventual success than IQ. Wow — that’s a big deal.  I’m desperately hoping this article will kick-start a big change, but frankly, I have my doubts.

The educational system in the USA is not oriented towards the kind of learning we need Now.  It does not create entrepreneurs and innovators. It’s just that simple, and it’s profoundly sad.  And, as the article points out, the measured decline in the creative capacity of our children, is probably a direct result of how we are raising them. Video games and TV are not bad things, but if they are the only things, our children are not leading balanced lives. Children have active imaginations, but if we serve them imaginative candy, every day, they lose the capacity to dream, create, and invent. Our ability to create has been the centerpiece of why the USA has been able to reinvent itself so many times. And that ability is just what we are losing.

The solution in my view is two fold: a radical change in the national curiculum (like that will ever happen), and pulling the plug on all the electronics. We need our kids to get out of the house and into the back yard where they can “make something up.”

Who remembers the company Heathkit? Two generations of American men (mostly men) learned to love electronics by building their own oscilloscopes and high fidelity stereo’s.  It wasn’t too expensive, and wow, did you ever learn.  It was fun!  It was cool!  I recall visiting a friend building his own stereo and watching him attempt his first solder. He was clumsy, but somehow he managed to do it, and you’ve never seen such a look of satisfaction on somebody’s face. That guy went on to be a much-in-demand television station engineer.  I’ll bet he still has that stereo. Heathkit has disappeared unfortunately, they got out of the kit business in about 92.

It’s time for another Heathkit!  How about having our kids, instead of spending hours shooting people (virtually) — they spend hours Making Something.

And it’s time for educators, school boards, and legislators to wake up to the fact that the tests they are teaching for are a waste of time if kids can’t Make Something. No Child Left Behind is a band aid.  We need surgery, or, it’s going to be No Country Left Behind.  Email that Newsweek article to your congressman and your school board members.