America’s Creativity Problem

 

George Land, a business consultant and researcher, is partially responsible for America successfully landing a man on the moon.  However, unless you are in certain circles, you probably never heard of him.  Yet, his contribution to the space program, creativity, and business are immense.

In the 1960s, NASA contacted Land for his help in identifying the space program’s most creative employees.  NASA needed to establish problem solving teams for the challenges the space program was experiencing.  Land and his team created a creativity test and helped NASA achieve their goal.  Now with a creativity test and a small body of research, Land wanted to expand his study.

Like any good researcher, Land turned his study on 5-year-olds.  During the course of his research, Land and his team would give his creativity test to approximately 1,600 kids.  The results were a bit shocking.

Of the 1,600 kindergarten students, 98% of them scored as creativity geniuses on his test.  Curious, Land turned his research into a longitudinal study following the 1,600 kids throughout their life.  Every 5 years, Land and his team would test the kids again.  The results became very concerning.

The percentage of kids scoring at genius level dropped every 5 years.  Not a little bit…but significantly.  By the time Land’s team tested the participants as adults, only 2% of them scored as creativity geniuses.  Land wanted to know what was causing the steep decline in creativity among students.

After compiling the data, Land’s team came to this conclusion:  Non-creative behavior is learned.

Our industrial-aged education system is teaching kids to be productive and in the process conditioning them to be uncreative.  While this might seem wrong, it was very intent of John D. Rockefeller when he created the General Education Board in the early 1900s.  The GED eventually became the US Department of Education.

In 1916, the GED released a book called “The Country School of Tomorrow.”  In the book, the purpose of the GED was explained:

“We have not to raise up from among [Americans] authors, editors, poets or men of letters… [instead] teach them to do in a perfect way... in the homes, in the shops and on the farm.“

Put simply, the GED was created not to teach men and women to think critically but to sit down, shut up, and follow directions.  To Rockefeller, he was turning the population of America into his own pool of industrial-age workers.  The US Board of Education has yet to drastically depart from the original purpose of the General Education Board.

Thomas Edison, one of the most creative inventors in history, was expelled from school because he did not fit the template Rockefeller and his GED were looking for.  He was sent home with a letter to his mother that read, “Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won’t let him come to school any more.”

In the early 2000s, 60 American business leaders got together to determine how American businesses were going to compete in the new global economy.  Their research pointed to American businesses being innovative and continuously innovating.  We are failing in this mission.

Today, only 21% of companies produce a truly innovative, or disruptive, product even though 94% of CEOs say it is a priority for them.  This is because innovation requires creativity.  While we are creating workers who can put round pegs in round holes, we are not producing workers who can help businesses stay competitive in the global marketplace.  American businesses need workers who can ideate, troubleshoot, validate business model hypotheses, and think critically.  Our education system is failing American businesses in this pursuit.

While students graduating from our high schools and colleges are productive, they are bringing an industrial-aged education into the 21st century workplace.  We cannot rely on the US Department of Education as they have proven unwilling or unable to depart from their industrial education framework.  American businesses must provide opportunities for our kids to exercise their creative talents to counteract the impact of our educational system.  Our failure to do this will make America less competitive today and in the future to come.

Do you feel your education prepared you for the modern world of work?