No consensus on best type of education It is more impor tant that the schools in our country teach students skills and encourage discipline independently and think
Publics around the world disagree about which is more important to emphasize in school: creative thinking or basic academic skills and discipline. Here are four key findings about educational preferences from a 2016 Pew Research Center survey of 19 countries.
Publics in advanced economies prefer creative education more than people in emerging economies do. Among advanced economies, half or more in six of the 14 countries surveyed said it is more important that schools teach students to be creative and think independently than to teach students basic academic skills and encourage discipline. By comparison, in all five of the emerging economies included in the survey, fewer than half said the same. Among advanced economies, Americans are in the middle of the pack: 48% support education that emphasizes creative and independent thinking and 42% prefer to prioritize basic academic skills.
No consensus on best type of education  | It is more impor tant that the schools in our country  | teach students  | Basic academic To be creative  | skills and encourage discipline independently and think  | discipline  | independently  | Advanced  | Spa in  | 24%  | 67%  | Germany  | 25  | 61  | Nethe rla nds  | 38  | 54  | Swed en  | 42  | 54  | Greece  | 28  | 53  | Canada  | 38  | 50  | Poland  | 26  | 49  | U.S  | 42  | 47 48  | 48  | Ja pan  | Australia  | 46  | 45  | Hungary  | 36  | 43  | France  | 51  | 42  | Italy  | 42  | 41  | UK  | 51  | 37  | Emerging/ Developing  | China  | 23%  | 44%  | India  | 29  | 43  | South Africa  | 49  | 43  | Nigeria  | 50  | 41  | Kenya  | 59  | 38  | Note: Volunteered categories Both "Neither" notshown.  | Source Spring 2016 Global Attitudes Survev. Q56.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 