作者/Raul O. Chao/Cristina Lopez-Gottardi(University of Virginia)
編譯/吳姵瑱
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美國教育體制扼殺創造力與創業精神
美國現今的教育體制扼殺了下一代發展創造力，缺乏創造力不僅是教育的問題，對國家未來的經濟也有嚴重影響。一直以來，美國以卓越的創造力與創業精神，獨樹一格。 然而，在過去幾十年間，小規模新創公司的數量持續下滑。越來越多研究報告指出，現今的教育體制無法幫助學童培養創造力、冒險精神、以及解決問題的能力，學生缺乏企業家精神，難以面對未來變動劇烈的就業市場。
根據美國威廉瑪麗學院（William and Mary College）教育學院所做的研究報告，K-12（12年初等和中等教育）學生各方面的創造力在過去幾十年間大幅下降。現在的兒童變得不善於表達自己的感受、缺乏熱情和想像力、比較沒有幽默感、整合能力不佳，欠缺觀察力與聯想力，也難以從不同的角度看待事情。
造成創造力與創業精神消失的原因相當複雜，一部分是因為隨著年齡的增加，社會意識增強，學生心態轉變成必須「符合社會期望」。但還有更多原因。肯●羅賓森(Ken Robinson)在他知名的TED演說〈如何逃出教育的死亡谷〉中，提出改革現有教育體制的觀點，因為現有的體制當初是為了因應工業化的需要。他呼籲大家應該要重新思索人類的無限能力，並依此改革學校教育。
羅賓森也提到，在現今瞬息萬變的世界，創意與知識同樣重要。如果小孩不願意或是害怕犯錯，他們就不會有創意思考的能力。社會總是將錯誤貼上負面標籤，這樣一來學校教育會慢慢扼殺小孩與生俱來的創意與冒險精神。
教育體制導致新一代缺乏創新和創業精神，這點直接反映在逐年減少的美國新創公司。Apple靈魂人物賈伯斯在1995年的專訪中，特別指出包容失敗以及冒險犯難的重要性。在既有的社會與教育體制下，大家都打安全牌避免犯錯、循規蹈矩，照著社會的期望生活。賈伯斯認為，這是一種狹隘的人生。他也提到，一旦你發現你能夠影響甚至改變既定規則，對社會有實質幫助，生命就變得寬廣得多了。
創意的力量，無限的可能
對於創意與冒險精神的正視與重視，對於全人類的未來扮演關鍵角色。下一代所面臨的挑戰與機會我們難以預見。肯定的是，創業精神不只有經濟上的影響力，更是人道精神的實質體現。實業家藉由提出解決方法，創造出創意商品、服務、事業、和科技造福社會大眾。
現行的教育模式獎勵在標準化考試表現優秀、符合社會期望又安分守己的學生。的確，勤奮努力是成功的必要條件，值得表揚，但不應該成為評鑑能力的唯一標準。絕大多數的實業家和發明家在成功前都經歷過無數次的失敗。我們何不教導我們的孩子先犯錯、多犯錯，讓他們從自己的經驗中學習成長，建立犯錯與嘗試的信心和勇氣。
美國政府與社會需要有更多的投資與實際行動，讓我們的下一代培養企業家的精神與思維，幫助學生找回失去的創意，同時對抗新創產業的衰退。社會大眾也必須認識創業精神對個人以及社會的正面影響，了解其帶動的機會與技術，相信自己也可以成為社會中創意思考的一員。
現在已經有一股改變革新的風氣。最近，維吉尼亞州立大學的Miller Center 與 Battern Institute 合作，由Steve Case和Carly Fiorina共同主持，成立提倡發展創業精神的教育中心（Milstein Commission entrepreneurship）。他們提議發展一套全國性K-12創業家競賽和相互對應的課程，讓所有的學生儘早接觸創業精神、培養創意思維。讓學子即使面對不確定的未來，也願意放手一搏，大膽嘗試。這個新的教育改革提案給學子機會推銷自己的創意，想出解決問題的方法， 更讓他們了解到自己也有正面影響社會和世界的力量。當我們的下一代有如此正面的期許和對自我能力的自信，我們便可以預見一個充滿希望的未來。
【作者介紹】
Raul O. Chao現為維吉尼亞大學達頓商學院的助理教授。
Cristina Lopez-Gottardi 現為維吉尼亞大學Miller Center公共政策計畫的研究主任。
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How America’s Education Model Kills Creativity and Entrepreneurship
The current model of education in the United States is stifling the creative soul of our children. While this is troubling for a variety of reasons, it also has significant economic consequences for the future of our country. America has long been unique because of its remarkable ingenuity, innovative capacity and entrepreneurial spirit. Yet over the last few decades, we have witnessed both a steady decline in the number of startups, as well as an increasing number of studies that suggest America’s education model fails to promote the kind of creativity, risk-taking, and problem solving skills necessary for entrepreneurship, and for a world and labor market that is in the midst of profound transformation. These are very worrisome trends.
According to research conducted by Kyung Hee Kim, Professor of Education at the College of William and Mary, all aspects of student creativity at the K-12 level have been in significant decline for the last few decades. Based on scores from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, her study reveals “that children have become less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle.” That is depressing.
So why is this happening? The answer is complicated. It partly relates to the psychology of social conformity that generally increases with age and enhanced social awareness. But it seems that something more is at play. Sir Ken Robinson in his now famous Ted Talk, “How Schools Kill Creativity,” argues for the need to reform existing education models (that were originally designed to support industrialization), calling on us to fundamentally “reconstitute our conception of the richness of human capacity” and adjust our education systems accordingly. Robinson argues that because the world is changing in transformational ways, “creativity now is as important in education as literacy,” and should therefore be treated with the same status. And if our children are “not prepared to be wrong, [they] will never come up with anything original…” He further contends that as a society, “we stigmatize mistakes,” and the result “is that we’re educating people out of their creative capacities” and destroying children’s natural willingness to take chances.
Perhaps it’s no wonder our nation is facing a decline in new venture formation given that these are exactly the skills and traits needed to be innovative and entrepreneurial. A 1995 interview with Steve Job stresses the importance of tolerance for failure and the confidence to take risks. When asked about his vision of the world, Jobs replied:
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your job is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have fun, save a little money.
That’s a very limited life.
Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”
This awareness is critical to our collective futures. In many ways, our children face a future whose challenges and opportunities we can only imagine. Entrepreneurship isn’t just good for our economy. It is also a profoundly moral human activity. Entrepreneurs advance society by imagining and creating innovative solutions, products, ventures, services, and technologies that help us all.
And yet, by and large, and at a very basic level, our education model rewards us for staying within the lines, for doing well on standardized tests and assessments, and valuing achievement as defined by society. To be clear, there is no doubt that hard work and achievement are important and often essential values for success of any kind, but much is lost if our focus as a society ends there.
We know that most entrepreneurs and innovators fail numerous times before they succeed, so why not teach our kids how to “fail fast, fail often” so that they learn not from what a teacher dictates, but rather from their own experimental failures and successes. Let’s encourage our children to be comfortable with their failed attempts, and the learning that is revealed in the process.
In an effort to combat this dual trend of decreasing student creativity and start up decline, America needs to invest in empowering the next generation with entrepreneurial thinking. A vibrant, innovative society is predicated on a creative mindset. It’s also based on an awareness of the opportunities that entrepreneurship provides both for individuals and for society, the encouragement to pursue them and the skills and belief that you too can be an innovative member of society.
There are promising signs on the horizon. Recently the Miller Center at the University of Virginia in partnership with the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation completed itsMilstein Commission on Entrepreneurship, co-chaired by Steve Case and Carly Fiorina. They propose the creation of a national K-12 entrepreneurship competition and related curriculum to expose students at an early age and across a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds to the accessibility of entrepreneurship and the merits of taking risks and building something from the ground up even when success is not guaranteed. By taking their shot at pitching a novel idea, venture or solution, this program will give young people the simple but critical awareness Steve Jobs spoke about, that they too can change and influence things, and make the world better for future generations. Indeed, if our kids develop that self-awareness and internal locus of control, it will be easy to regain our hope for the future.
【Author】Raul O. Chao is an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Cristina Lopez-Gottardi is Research Director for Public and Policy Programs at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
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圖片來源：《forbes》
原文刊登於《forbes》，經作者Raul O. Chao/Cristina Lopez-Gottardi授權編譯，未經許可不得轉載
