Press Room
Panel: Developing a Creative Workforce and the Role of Education
The third panel of the day, moderated by Gerald L. Gordon, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, concluded the morning session with a discussion of K-12 and higher education and the role of educators in helping to launch new technologies.
Jack Dale, superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, identified 21st century skills that K-12 educators must deliver in order to prepare their students to be successful in a global creative economy. Dale noted traditional skills in reading, math, social studies and science. He also noted a new set of “aspirational” skills in multi-lingual, multi-cultural communication, global awareness, creativity and multi-disciplinary, entrepreneurial thinking.
Belle Wheelan, president of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, provided a call-to-action for both K-12 and higher education that we not “lose anyone,” noting that in order to compete in the global war for talent our country must provide every one of our citizens with the education they need to be successful in a creative economy.
Finally, Robert Kahn, president of the Reston, Va.-based Corporation for National Research Initiatives, focused on the role of education in the development of big, broadly applicable technology innovations. He noted the need to provide students with opportunities to innovate and create prototypes on a small scale. He also provided the audience with some characteristics needed for success in launching new technologies. Among those, are conceptual design skills, project-planning skills, presentation skills, the ability for long-term vision and an instinct for what can go wrong on a project.
The discussion generated an energetic Q&A session that included questions about the intersection between creativity and scientific enterprise and how to teach financial literacy in schools.
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Top: Gerald Gordon; Bottom, left to right: Jack Dale, Belle Wheelan and Robert Kahn. All photos by Kaveh Sardari. These and many other high-resolution images from the National Conference on the Creative Economy may be viewed and purchased from www.sardari.com.
