tom friedman on education is a sad sad thing. this column appears to argue for education that encourages creativity. but this turns out to be beautifully coherent with the standardized test regime which would appear to anyone with sense to be its opposite. thus, creativity and innovation in friedman's account arise from "mastering" more than one body of knowledge. sadly we know what this mastery is going to consist in. there is this odd little sentence:
Part of me said: “Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice to have a government that was so focused on innovation — instead of one that is basically anti-science.”
i wish parts of me said "gosh" rather than all chorusing together "fuck me in the ass and dump me in a ditch," but that is neither here nor there. "innovation" and "science" here appear to be used synonymously? at any rate, if you think you're encouraging creativity by the mechanical techniques of contemporary compulsory education, your own creative thinking appears, shall we say, stunted.