As concerned as the U.S. with its international competitiveness, we are not the only ones. China and India are also worried about how their innovative talent will stack up in a global economy.

From Thomas Friedman’s March 24^th op-ed in the New York Times:

“We need to encourage more incubation of ideas … to make innovation a national initiative,” said Azim Premji, the chairman of Wipro, one of India’s premier technology companies. “Are we as Indians creative? Going by our rich cultural heritage, we have no doubt some of the greatest art and literature. We need to bring the same spirit into our economic and business arena.”

But to make that leap, Indian entrepreneurs say, will require a big change in the rigid, never-challenge-the-teacher Indian education system. “If we do not allow our students to ask why, but just keep on telling them how, then we are only going to get the transactional type of outsourcing, not the high-end things that require complex interactions and judgment to understand another person’s needs,” said Nirmala Sankaran, C.E.O. of HeyMath, an Indian-based education company. “We have a creative problem in this country.”

My guess is that we’re at the start of a global convergence in education: China and India will try to inspire more creativity in their students. America will get more rigorous in math and science. And this convergence will be a great spur to global growth and innovation. It’s a win-win. But some will win more than others — and it will be those who get this balance right the fastest, in the most schools.