7.30.2010

What We're Reading: The Creativity Crisis

A recent Newsweek story reported on research that shows American creativity is declining. Torrance's Creativity Test scores of both adults and children, which were steadily rising from the time the test was created in the 1950's until 1990, have been declining ever since.

What's going on? The author suggests that the number of hours kids spend watching TV and playing video games are to blame. In addition, education's emphasis on testing and curriculum standards often leave little room in the school day for creativity and the arts.

Ironically, the report of diminished creativity comes on the heels of a May Bloomberg Business News report citing a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM's Institute for Business Value in which CEOs identified 'creativity' as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.