education ⁽²⁾

Ask any politician or influential business person about their vision for the economy and chances are they will tout the value of entrepreneurship and innovation. It’s a bland and safe answer that will resonate with a lot of people. It’s also true to some extent. Creative thinking coupled with the ability to act and implement can lead to successful businesses. Problem is, very few understand where this innovative power comes from and far too many believe STEM subject teaching is the only important factor.

Something that caused quite a bit of a stir a while ago was the revelation that Sweden had dropped considerably in OECD’s international PISA school rankings. Politicians were eager to get media attention, pointing fingers at the opposition for this and that, turning it into yet another left versus right blame game. A common theme was a call for more order and a more strict school. I think the explanation is not whether teachers need to seen as authoritarian figures but rather as to whether they help students believe in themselves.