What is and is not taught in schools has a huge effect on a country far beyond the short term. Teaching a subject like entrepreneurship would not only create great, innovative students, but would also eventually lead to more jobs, increased independence, and substantially higher success rates for students that are typically punished for thinking outside the box in the current school system.
An Inexact Field
One of the main arguments against entrepreneurial education is that it, unlike fields like math, science and even English, is far from precise. There is no equation, no textbook, and no statistic that can guarantee you’ll be a successful startup founder. However, this doesn’t mean we should abandon the practice all together; quite the contrary. Edward Elgar said it best in his study, Handbook of Research in Entrepreneurship Education: Entrepreneurship has become such a staple in the business world, which means that related education needs to be pressed even more, especially because it’s not an exact field. Otherwise, only the self-taught will be the ones running businesses.
Educating the Future
Not to sound like Whitney Houston, but the children really are our future, from a purely chronological stand point of course. However, without a creatively-minded, innovation-driven, collaboratively-focused generation of students, it’s going to be nearly impossible to keep up with changing tech trends and shifting business norms of the world today. If young people are going to inherit the complicated technology we’ve so hurriedly developed over the last few years, they’re going to need more than STEM classes. They’re going to need to understand the importance of being prepared, the value of experience, and the luck required to be successful. And entrepreneurial classes will be nothing if not all three of those key educational lessons. Read more about being an entrepreneur on TechCo
