Entrepreneurship
Education
June 29, 2006
Q:
Steve, I caught you on Fox News this morning. (Glad you ditched the moustache
and goatee!) It's interesting to note that entrepreneurs succeed in the
U.S. in spite of our education system, not because of it. Our education
system is designed to turn out "good employees," not "good entrepreneurs." That
education model needs to change. -- Tom, Dayton, OH
A: I have to agree with you
in great measure, Tom. We have an education system that was created around the
time of the Industrial Revolution when we needed to turn rural kids into urban
employees capable of working in assembly line mass-market factories. As a
result, we ended up with a school system focused on rote memorization and
measurable, predictable results.
While that was all well and good for that new economy, it does not seem to make sense for this New Economy. In this interdependent global world, where little is the new big (nano technology, iPods, and small businesses rule the day here, in China, and in India for starters), re-thinking school makes sense.
Now don't get me wrong; I like education as much as anyone; I spent more time in graduate schools than I care to remember! And, while we all appreciate those teachers who made a difference, that change may be appropriate in this new economic era is not a radical notion.
We need an educational system that, while teaching math and science and reading and writing, also stresses creativity, initiative, risk analysis, and thoroughness; namely, the same sorts of traits that help make one a good entrepreneur and an informed, smart citizen. We are living in an entrepreneurial age, and that will only increase as the century progresses.
Just this week, India's booming entrepreneurial economy was on the cover of Time Magazine. Are American students learning what they need to in order to compete in this new world? No less an authority on international business than Bill Gates thinks the answer is a resounding no.
At a speech in 2005 before the National Governor's Conference, Gates said, "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow." (The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has earmarked almost $2.5 billion to education since 1999, part of which goes to promoting "smaller learning communities" intended to supplant huge high schools.)
The good news is that the Gates Foundation interest in education seems to be indicative of a shift in thinking on this subject:
The
Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education was formed by the International
Enterprise Academy at the Ohio State University in 1982. Since then, it has
become a private, non-profit corporation with members from education
departments and groups concerned with entrepreneurship from all over the
world. On June 7, 2006, it met one of its chief goals when the House of
Representatives passed a resolution supporting National Entrepreneurship
Week. The first Entrepreneurship Week is scheduled for February 24 - March
3, 2007.
I am proud
to say that my paper, USA TODAY, has teamed with the esteemed Ewing Marion
Kaufman Foundation to help kids learn about entrepreneurship via an
in-school program. You can learn more by going
here.
The Kaufman
Foundation also provides a great
clearinghouse
for other entrepreneurship education programs and news.
In the
early 1980s, Dr. Jonathan Sher teamed up with Dr. Paul DeLargy to create
REAL -- Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning. The program offers a
curriculum for educators and helps rural students learn to be job creators,
not just job seekers.
Finally, as Tom pointed out in his letter to me, a number of states offer week-long entrepreneurship boot camps for students.
Yet, while
change is in the air, it is neither deep nor widespread. Most entrepreneurs
learn about business either at home and/or through experience, and not school.
Yet even so, we are living in the golden age of small business where ever more
markets and tools are enabling us to be ever more successful. Let's hope the
entrepreneurial education system catches up.
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Today's tip: Want to teach your child about entrepreneurship in the meantime? Then I suggest you pick up a copy of the great book for kids by Bill Rancic, the first winner of The Apprentice. Entitled, Beyond the Lemonade Stand, the book is chock-full of idea to get kids excited about being their own boss.
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