Teaching "innovation"

What public education system has this author observed? It doesn't seem to resemble the American system I am familiar with.

Knowledge that children are encouraged to soak up in American schools — the memorization of planets, state capitals, the Periodic Table of Elements — can only take students so far. But “skill and will” determine a child’s ability to think outside of the box, he says.

Who says American school children are being taught these things? They are not even learning the multiplication tables or how to write cursive. Instead, the curriculum is devoted to promoting self esteem, diversity, and political correctness. Our children are not being taught the basic skills they need to survive in our society, such as how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. We are educating them to become suckers. They are incapable of thinking anything through or expressing their opinions with clarity. You can't teach children to be creative. That comes from within. But you can equip them with the knowledge required not to be gullible fools. You can transmit our Western heritage.