“A lot of kids' parents are wealthy who can afford to give them the kind of upbringing that will propel them in the direction of prestigious universities, but often the main thing they care about is that their life will be good and not that they'll make the world better, not only for others in their generation but for their own kids. So what we need to be developing is not people's ability to solve cosign problems or remember obscure words, but how do you deal with a world that is falling apart and in which people are suffering and their ability to handle those problems is poor. I think in part because their education system is so grossly inadequate and tied to this sort of academic notion of memorizing a bunch of books, and you get an A, and you get your degree. And that's not what the world needs now. I think that's pretty clear. You could memorize an English-German dictionary. It doesn't mean you could speak German or English. You could memorize the psychology textbook. It doesn't mean you can apply psychology to the world. And our notions about education are just much too academically absorbent, rather than developing leaders who will make the world a better place.”Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He is a past winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology, and the William James and James McKeen Cattell Awards of the Association for Psychological Science. Sternberg has served as President of the American Psychological Association, and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences. His latest book is Adaptive Intelligence: Surviving and Thriving in Times of Uncertainty.www.robertjsternberg.comwww.cambridge.org/fr/academic/subjects/psychology/cognition/adaptive-intelligence-surviving-and-thriving-times-uncertainty?format=HB&isbn=9781107154384#bookPeoplewww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast