American Ingenuity and the Role of Education

A recent email I received bemoaned the loss of industrialization in America, and the evolution to new technologies. It is clear to me that the answer to America's continued viability as an economic and world power lies in our educational systems, and their ability (or lack thereof) to turn out a nation of problem solvers that can continue America's prominence as an exporter of ideas.

The trap that Americans are so fond of – rose-lensed nostalgia for the good old days - fails to acknowledge real truths of progress. After all, our country was founded and has operated with “change” as the cornerstone of our nation. Forefathers wanted change, which led to them being here in the first place, and the desire to change individual lives and our nation’s past for the better has been the impetus for all which led to our country’s economic and cultural prosperity. The question posed is whether anyone can demonstrate that a deindustrialized America will be economically viable. A better question might be how anyone could believe that an America focused on industrialization rather than ideas could continue to provide the quality of living Americans have come to expect and aspire to – and the answer to that question is simply that it could not, and the responsibility for our future falls on schools.

The notion that other countries are at economic war with us may or may not be true. What is certainly true is that other countries have copied the American economic model, even under the umbrella of nationally espoused anti-capitalist philosophy. The problem for them is that they are years behind in copying a model that is no longer viable. The truth is that while China may now be the most industrialized nation in the world, that has not translated into a stable economic future even for them. The World Economic Forum publishes a Global Competitiveness Report each year, and for many years the United States has topped that report. Last year the U.S. dropped to # 2, and this year is 4th. Conspicuously absent from the Top Ten, and ranked well down the list, is China, despite being the world’s #1 manufacturer of goods. How can that be? It’s pretty simple – the U.S continues to be the world’s #1 exporter of ideas.

The U.S. so far outdistances the rest of the world in the sale of intellectual property (as evidenced by sales of licenses and royalty fees), that other countries are barely a part of that discussion. The World Economic Forum cites the U.S. strength in ideas , “The United States is home to highly sophisticated and innovative companies operating in very efficient factor markets. The country is also endowed with an excellent university system that collaborates strongly with the business sector in R&D. Combined with the scale opportunities afforded by the sheer size of its domestic economy—the largest in the world by far—these qualities continue to make the United States very competitive. “ (WE 2010). In fact, the nations which have moved up the list (Switzerland is this year’s #1), have done so not so much on the strength of their industrialization, but on the strength of their ingenuity and idea export in a global digital economy. China leads the world in the manufacture and export of toys, but the U.S. leads the world in the creation and sale of valuable intellectual property. I’ll take the ingenuity of my Mac over the engineering of my daughter’s Zhu Zhu pets (furry, mechanical hamsters for those without young children at home...).

The answer for America’s future economic viability as a global competitor lies not in holding on to an industrial model of economics, but in cultivating a future generation of problem solvers. This isn’t to say that there isn’t value in manufacturing “things”, and that holding on to manufacturing footholds isn’t important, but what is more important in our flattening world is the ability to create. In education we are preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. The answer for our future economic viability is creating a generation of young people who will strengthen the United States’ position as the birthplace of valuable ideas. After all, in industrialization, it was not the cars themselves that represented America’s foundation as a country, it was the ingenuity of their design and manufacture. This is the critical distinction that arguments regarding industrialization miss. Should we manufacture things – sure. Should they be the same things we’ve always manufactured? Almost certainly not.

Current education reforms ironically mirror image today’s economic trends. American education leaders are chasing a Chinese / Asian model that even those countries no longer use. While America now requires divulging test scores of competing school districts and states, the Chinese government expressly forbids this practice. They studied American schools (and continue to), and realize that the reason America has created a nation with ingenuity as its greatest strength is that schools have not limited the growth of that ingenuity - in fact they have encouraged it. Ironically, today’s education reforms in America are moving actively away from exactly what the rest of the world is beginning to embrace. That, more than the loss of industrialization, endangers our country’s standing.

The answer lies where it always has – America’s greatest strength throughout history has been its ingenuity, creativity. Did I love my old LPs? Yes, but I wouldn’t trade them today for my ipod. I still hold on to them out of nostalgia, but that nostalgia is based not on the thing, but the memories the thing triggers. The good old days really harken back to memories that we hold dear. Rarely is it really the technology or usefulness of the tool we miss, but the memories we associate with it. If the tool was really more useful in the “old days”, it would still be around. I miss having a newspaper delivered, and despite being a little bit of a tech geek, I still buy a print newspaper every day at the gas station because while I can read it online, I enjoy holding it in my hands. The truth is, the paper is more current and better online – I just like my habits. That’s true of most of us, but those things change over time. The only constant really is change. To change the future for the right kind of America requires a fundamental commitment to our education system as the foundation for creation of a nation of problem solvers that carries and builds our country’s legacy as the most innovative society to walk this planet to date.



Because creating a generation of problem solvers is infinitely complex, it hinges on education. In my opinion, America must:

1. Require schools to emphasize inquiry and problem solving delivery models.
2. Develop a system that promotes higher education for all – the greatest issue facing our country is not accessibility to health care (although that’s obviously important), but rather accessibility to education.
3. Develop a model that requires more significant training and development of talented people as educators, and weeds out unqualified or incapable candidates.

The guys that design the cars, design the buildings, and design manufacturing systems, have always been in great demand, perhaps more so than those who built them. Today that is more true than ever. In today’s world, the demand for the former is growing exponentially faster than the demand for the latter, and adapting to that need is our greatest challenge. Education is the answer.