Editor's note: Creating Innovators offers an expose on what it takes to foster creative and entrepreneurial skills in students and adults alike. I agreed with Tony Wagner’s general premise that being an 'innovator' is not a destination, but a lifelong learning process. Through a collection of interviews with students, parents, and their teachers, Wagner identifies a few common threads: parenting styles, impact and role of mentors and teachers, and the role of the various educational institutions on their development (listed in order of importance, in my opinion).
Excerpt: “...most policymakers - and many school administrators - have absolutely no idea what kind of instruction is required to produce student who can think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and collaboration versus merely score well on a test. They are also clueless about what kind of teaching best motivates this generation of thinkers."