'Go back to the fundamentals'

"I feel that people think that education is teaching others. But almost all the knowledge we gain at university is forgotten. Education is inspiration. Einstein was inspired by bicycling. Newton was inspired by an apple. Education inspires people to think of the impossible, imagine the unimaginable, and accomplish what could not be accomplished before."

    -- Stephen Ma, Commissioner and Secretary,

       California Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs Commission

"I think education should really be about critical reasoning, and not reduced to training. Labor in our economy is changing so quickly that all those skills will soon be inadequate. School should teach you to innovate, to engage with risk and evaluate risk. Critical thinking is the way to make out the difference between a video game and reality."

    -- Vanessa Miller, Advisor to Director General, French Ministry of Environment and Energy

"Education is about being authentic, being true to the facts, to oneself. We put a lot of emphasis on empty talk. We need to leverage the true potential of people, not only learning capability but the capability of innovation. We need to give full play to the innovation and ability of every individual. We need to go back to the fundamentals in our educational system."

    -- Zhang Yaqin, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft