BILL CRAWFORD — Biloxi legislators push innovative learning in schools | MS Business Journal
Incessant innovation is the key to economic growth suggested Martin Wolf in The Financial Times. “Historical experience confirms that growth is a race to the top,” he wrote. “It means exploiting new opportunities that generate enduring advantages in high-productivity sectors and so high wages.”
Could this have meaning for Mississippi? And what role, if any, should government play?
Yes. And government does have a role Wolf said, drawing from “Windows of Opportunity” by David Sainsbury.
“There are four possible strategies towards innovation: leave it to the market; support the supply of relevant factors of production (science and skilled people); support key industries and technologies; and pick specific firms/technologies/products.” According to Sainsbury Wolf said, “that governments should do the second and third, but not the last.”
They may not have read Wolf’s essay or Sainsbury’s book, but two Biloxi legislators have bought into the notions that Mississippi needs science and skilled people to spur innovative economic growth and that government has a role in providing that.
Sen. Scott Delano and Rep. Kevin Felsher introduced bills to require “the study of computers, algorithmic processes, coding and logical thinking, including computer principles, their hardware and software designs, their implementation and their impact on society” in all K-12 schools. The House and Senate both passed similar versions of the Mississippi Computer Science And Cyber Education Equality Act. Felsher said he expected the House to concur with a Senate technical amendment which would assure final passage. The bill would then go to the Governor for final approval.
