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　　Creativity is the key to a brighter future, say education and business experts．Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children．

　　If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have a product that we now think of as of great importance：a new type of tape．Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining company．At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together．But his boss told him not to think more about the idea．Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people．And his former company learned from its mistake．Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their work time just thinking about and developing new ideas．

　　Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character(特征)of high intelligence．The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively．Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something．Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity．With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers．The result is that children can give back information but cannot recognize ways to use it in new situations．They may know the rules correctly, but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems．

　　It is important to give children choices．From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results．Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills．As children grow older, parents should let their children decide how to use their time or spend their money, but not help them too much if they make the wrong decision．The child may have a hard time, but that is all right．This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble．

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