Creating-entrepreneurial-mindset

B. ChristansenThese facts clearly indicate there are major issues regarding school / teaching qualityworldwide. However, it must also be realized there are other circumstances surroundingthe matter such as demographic changes and national cultural concerns. Anation’s economic health is based largely on the composition of its current and futureworkforce, which in turn impacts the major determinant of long-term national growth:productivity (Drucker, 2002).5. DiscussionIt must be noted these educational systems are not necessarily inherently superior toone another in aggregate, if only because each country faces very different challenges.For example, Turkey has a class size problem due largely to demographics (CIAFactbook, 2013), and the country’s educational policies are (relatively speaking) veryoften changed at the Ministerial-level. The USA needs simultaneously to upgrade studentperformance on international assessment tests and to curb serious teacher attrition.Other nations such as Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan also face critical education challengestoday for different reasons (OECD, 2010). The fundamental challenges facing alleducational systems include addressing cultural as well as structural issues. It is fromthis foundation that any meaningful, long-term changes to educational systems must bemade, with the recognition there are no scientific standards for considering one groupas intrinsically superior or inferior to another (cultural relativism) (Hofstede, 2001).Innovation and imagination in university education are of particular importance todayto increase the motivation and innovation of undergraduate students (Barnett,2011; Özkul, 2012). There is also the issue of quality as mentioned above. The loomingtalent crisis in China is a good example to underscore the critical nature of thesestatements. For example, despite the vast supply of Chinese graduates each year (overthree million), multinational firms operating in China continue to experience difficultyin finding and recruiting local candidates suitable for the advanced jobs available. Twoof the major reasons for this occurrence are: 1) the Chinese university bias towardstheory over practice; and 2) poor English language skills (McKinsey Global Institute,2005).The lesson to be learned in this particular example for all nations is two-fold: a)formal education must incorporate a healthy balance of theory and practice; and b)English language communication skills continue to be highly critical worldwide.6. ConclusionThe American writer, Max Depree, once stated, “We cannot become what we wishby remaining the way we are”. Given the effects of today’s globalization, this statementholds particular value for the developed nations of the world, as well as for developingeconomies. The world is certainly a vastly different place from the one inwhich our parents and grandparents worked and lived, and technological advancement13