A reply to Thomas Friedman

To the Editor;

Thomas Friedman makes a terrific point, "The world only cares, and will only pay for, what you can do with what you know."  He then contradicts himself, "We’re moving to a more competency-based world where there will be less interest in how you acquired the competency ,,, and more demand to prove that you mastered the competency" ("The professors' big stage" March 6, 2013).

Part of the crisis in education is this demand to have it both ways.  Competency is measurable precisely because it requires convergent, rote-like knowledge and skills. Creativity and entrepreneurship is often not measurable precisely because it requires divergent, radically different use of knowledge and skills.  The more schools insist on the former, the less they are capable of cultivating the latter.