The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have
done­­­­­­­­­­—men who are creative, inventive, and discoverers.
­­­­­­­­­­—Jean Piaget

Five months after the first humans landed on the moon, Time magazine ran that quote in a feature article on Jean Piaget, the then 73-year-old Swiss philosopher and child psychologist. The occasion was ostensibly what Time called "a flood" of Piaget translations pouring into the American market, but the world was clearly ready for Piaget's advice about educating discoverers. "His insights," said Time, "are in growing vogue among U.S. educators, psychologists and some parents. His findings have given encouragement and innumerable specific suggestions to the 'discovery method' of teaching, now used in many schools across the U.S. and in Great Britain."

A tour today of schools across the United States, Great Britain, and in fact most of the developed world would find little evidence of Piaget's philosophy in action. Creativity is ghettoized, restricted to a single period or a couple of shabby rooms. The tools and tactics that encourage the creative thinking that is now, more than ever, so critical to success in higher education and the world at large have yet to be integrated into the standard curriculum or overall design of our schools.

In this chapter, a chorus of voices echo Piaget, each making their own point in support of his pioneering observations about the goal of education. We must give children spaces and lessons that foster lifelong creativity, that teach them to take calculated risks, to innovate and experiment. What does the future have in store? Only the creative mind can speculate.

RESOURCES

www.nifplay.org
The National Institute for Play unlocks the human potential through play in all stages of life using science to discover all that play has to teach us about transforming our world.

www.aep-arts.org
The Arts Education Partnership is a national coalition of arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that demonstrate and promote the essential role of the arts in the learning and development of every child and in the improvement of America’s schools.