A discussion at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). [Photo/21st Century Education Research Institute]

"To encourage creativity, we must change the objective of school education from that of training young people to be laborers to cultivating true humanity. True reform that encompasses thought as well as innovation and brings human creativity back to the campus is evident in the human enthusiasm that stimulates children’s creativity," special educational correspondent Jiang Xueqin of The New York Times said.

Founder of the Internet educational platform www.hujiang.com Fu Cairui shared his reflections on education, how to shake off the shackles of tradition and give full play to our creative minds.

Fu said that it was only when he first used the Google search engine at college that he realized he was not born to learn knowledge by memorizing books. "I could find out anything I wanted with a click. It was an epiphany that made me realize there was no need to go back to campus because I could learn independently."

Active learning has a huge potential market. "We have 800 workers and 80 million users, all of them active online learners. The value of our website has grown from RMB 80,000 to US $one billion, and the number is still rocketing."

Fu’s decision to start his own business was met with suspicion and dissuasion from both teachers and friends. They all urged him to follow in the footsteps of students who had begun earning salaries after graduation rather than taking the risk of being an entrepreneur.

Fu’s mother, in contrast, told him to do whatever he liked other than crime. Fu feels lucky to have come under the influence of such an understanding mother.

It took Fu nine years to earn his first penny. "While building the website I never thought I would be a millionaire. Despite its first simple, unrefined contents, there were still many active users then from schools. All my efforts were encouraged by people on campus’s constant text messages encouraging me to persevere, and telling me I was doing something outstanding."

When talking about innovative ability, Fu expressed his belief that the most important ability is that of accomplishing the career upon which you have embarked. "Anything, no matter how small, deserves dedication and fulfillment. Persisting until you succeed is unbelievably gratifying."

"Educational innovation is essentially value-orientated cultural behavior rather than technical training. It aims at inspiring children’s life values during the education process. Only when students discover their own such values can they pursue dreams in the future. This is the genuine significance of education innovation," concluded deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission Yin Houqing.