Two of the 21st century skills are creativity and critical thinking. I came up with this phrase for use in my classroom based on the line in Ralph Waldo Emerson's "American Scholar" where he says, "In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state, he is, Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men's thinking."

I had a hand-drawn poster that a student made that read, "Say no to parrots!" I carry that passion with me in my work in professional development, to help teachers help kids become good critical thinkers that can be creative.