Education vs. Creativity = Chicken or the Egg

I am in no way knocking education. It is of the utmost importance in today's competitive world. I have a Bachelors degree and will be embarking on a masters program soon.

But, when talking about revitalizing a community, people always argue what needs to be in place first. One argument is schools should be built and are needed first to educate individuals and then those people will redevelop the community. Another argument is a community needs to attract the creatives first to have new ideas in moving the community forward and education will then follow.

I feel that the creative individuals are more important to lay the groundwork for building new restaurants and new attractions. This will in turn attract visitors and create a draw of people to the city, who once there, finds that it has so many wonderful offerings (from the creatives) that they move there. As more people follow, there is a need to build more schools for educating the community citizens. This will then spark more economic development and the community will be on its way to revitalization.

As we all know, it takes money to do anything. The creative new community attractions (restaurants, shops, retail) will bring increased economic development and supply money for the schools that will be needed to be built.

What do you think? Chicken or the egg - Education or Creativity