An absolute wake-up call for America. That’s how Education Secretary Arne Duncan viewed the results of an international standardized test in which U.S. students ranked from 15th to 25th worldwide in science, reading, and math.

Our education system is lacking the strength to keep up with other nations; America is falling behind, and it may be too late to catch up.

Our schools have come so far with technology, with our Smartboards and fancy Scantrons, yet we still use the one-size-fits-all public education system created during the Industrial Revolution.

We have not really done much else other than adding new technology, segregating the students by age, and then forcing more one-size-fits-all standardized testing down their throats.

If we’ve come so far, where the heck are we going? It is certainly not towards a future of full of unexpected, complex issues that our standardized, misguided minds can not even begin to help us solve.

The concerned mother turned filmmaker who produced Race to Nowhere, a documentary about our failing education system, jumped on this education reform bandwagon because apparently, we – the average American citizens – are sitting back, twiddling our thumbs, and Waiting for Superman to save us from this horrid system.

The documentary, Race to Nowhere, “aims at the culture of hollow achievement and pressure to perform that has taken over America’s schools. It is destroying students’ desire to learn and is feeding an epidemic of unprepared, disengaged, and unhealthy students.”

But the problem is this: we already have the solution – we all do. It’s just never been brought to the world’s attention. Until now.

Sir Ken Robinson, an educator who’s worked with government agencies around the world to improve education, creativity, and the economy, is the man our education system has been waiting for. He has something of value: creativity.

We’re born with creativity, but the problem is our curriculum beats it out of us. From the beginning of our pre-K years, we are taught to take tests, and to answer them with one right answer, or fail. From the beginning, we are trained to strangle any thoughts of innovation, of creating new solutions to the problem because that’s not what’s on the answer key.

If real life doesn’t have one answer or a pass-fail mentality, then why are we taught and raised to believe that? Because that’s how public education was originally set up.

The problem is we have no developed way to measure creativity.

To be creative, you must do something, take action, you must create some kind of ‘practical outcome,’ whether in math class or in music or in chemistry experiments.

The key is that creativity can be judged on this basis; this allows the student to explore new ground and create new solutions, but still can provide guidelines to be graded by.

Moreover, the U.S. has one of the shortest school years: 180 days versus 220 for South Korea. Research shows teachers spend up to six weeks re-teaching what kids forgot over the summer, according to CBSNews. So a shorter break may be better.

Now, the numbers suggest, might be time for a new lesson plan.