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I wish the above title were my own creation, but it's the very clever title of a new poll demonstrating that Americans of all stripes see imagination as a core ability all schools should teach.  Perhaps that's not so shocking, but another finding really did surprise me:  Namely, that most Americans believe our schools are falling behind other countries' schools in their ability produce imaginative, innovative students. 

Ouch. 

It seems we're losing our formerly unshakable belief in America as a country where Thomas Edisons and Bill Gateses come as naturally as the leaves to a tree.  Other countries might be good at math, we've told ourselves, but we're the natural-born innovators.

Maybe not.  Americans appear to understand that developing an innovative spirit takes work, and that such work begins in our public schools.  More and more worry that policies focusing too exclusively on mathematics and reading threaten to crowd out innovation and dull our competitive edge. 

Lawmakers would be wise to sit up and take note of this concern.  In fact, the poll, which resulted from a collaboration among Lake Research Partners, the Arts Education Partnership and the International Music Products Association, found that lawmakers who cut funding for "building the capacities of the imagination among students in public schools" may well face the displeasure of voters.  Even as we nose into a possible recession and an accompanying budget squeeze, legislators should think twice before they put arts programs on the chopping block.

For some examples of schools whose commitment to the arts and imagination yields impressive academic results, see publicschoolinsights.org's profiles of Mary B. Austin Elementary School in Alabama and Woodrow Wilson Elementary in New Jersey.