Creativity is the key to a brighter future, say education and business experts. Here is 1 schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.
If Dick Drew had listened to his 2 in 1925, we might not have a product that we now think of as practically essential: masking tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Manufacturing and Mining Company, better known as 3M. At work he developed a sticky-side substance strong enough to hold things together. 3 his boss told him not to pursue the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew perfected the tape, 4 now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now 3M encourages peoples to 5 15 percent of their work-time just thinking and developing new ideas.
Creativity is not 6 one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a characteristic of high intelligence. Just because a person who is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. 7 is the matter of using the resources one has to produce original ideas that are good for something.
8 , schools have not tended to promote creativity. With strong emphasis on test scores and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators 9 creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can give back information but can"t recognize ways to apply it to new situation. They may know their multiplication tables, for example, but they are unable to apply them to 10 problems.