“Teach Them While They Are Young” -Inc Mag’s Revitalization Program

When I received the July/August 2010 issue of Inc Magazine, I could hardly contain the excitement when I read their feature article, “Bring On The Entrepreneurs! Our highly practical, eminently doable, totally reasonable plan to revitalize the American dream and create thousands (upon thousands) of new companies and millions of new jobs”. Why the excitement? (other than being a total business-geek) While I thought all the ideas in their plan to revitalize America via entrepreneurism (there’s a new word for Wiki…) had value, I was ecstatic when I read that two of the ideas at the forefront of their plan involved entrepreneurial education.

For those of you new to the site, Homeschool Entrepreneur started with a dream of seeing entrepreneurial education as a required part of every balanced educational program. As a veteran  homeschool parent, naturally I saw the homeschool environment as an ideal springboard for this ‘out of the box’ idea. The flexibility of homeschooling coupled with the progressive nature of most that embrace this alternative educational environment, seemed to be a perfect fit. I was sure others like myself would see the benefits. What I didn’t realize was it turned out to be an idea before it’s time. Inc’s article encouraged me that maybe that time is finally here. Now, that’s exciting!

Education, much like religion, is fraught with tradition. Many homeschool parents will tell you they have had a hard time breaking away from the traditional model of “school” and ended up simply doing ‘public school at home’ – especially at the beginning. I’m not saying that is a bad thing, but when the true nature of homeschooling is embraced, the experience is so much richer. Likewise, entrepreneurial education has yet to break out of it’s stereotype and become the educational tool it can truly be. (more on that soon!)

Maybe, just maybe, the  understanding that entrepreneurial education isn’t just for business geeks has finally made it to the big presses. Inc Magazine is one of the first I’ve seen to embrace this possibility. I’m not talking about those that deal directly with entrepreneurial education like  The Kaufman Foundation and our own Homeschool Entrepreneur. The number of college-level entrepreneurial programs has certainly increased substantially, as well as a sprinkling of high school level programs. However, it’s still considered education solely for the imminent start-up. Think of all the courses you have had to take throughout high school and college that had nothing whatsoever to do with what you were aspiring to do in life. All in the name of a balanced education. Somewhere along the line the entrepreneurial mindset was completely washed out.

Several years ago it was the chatter among entrepreneurs and some economists that small business would be the key to America’s economic recovery. So, why hasn’t America quite recovered yet? I think Inc’s Reviltalization Plan included a few statistics that might shed a little light on why the power of free enterprise hasn’t quite lifted us out yet.

Why entrepreneurs have not pulled us out . . . yet:

A quote from this Inc Magazine special report:

Young companies — those younger than six years old — provide the bulk of new jobs; in 2007, they accounted for 64 percent of them, according to a 2009 survey by the Kauffman Foundation that looked at start-up formation since the 1970s.  (italics ours)

. . . Unfortunately, creating new companies is easier said than done. The rate of business creation has remained stubbornly constant over the years. Since the early 1990s, the number of start-ups has hovered at about 500,000 a year, according to a survey by the Kauffman Foundation. This has been the case during booms and busts, whether taxes were rising or falling, and whether venture capitalists were irrationally exuberant or largely recalcitrant.

“Clearly, some new thinking is required.”

OK, so what is this new thinking? It’s proven out that increasing the availability of entrepreneurship courses in universities has had no effect. The fact that the increase of schools offering relevant courses from 500 in the 1970′s to over 2000 schools in 2005 resulted in little or no increase in the number of start-ups speaks for itself. What Inc did point out were two programs that offer hands on training that are making an impact:  The Launch Pad at the University of Miami and MIT’s Entrepreneurship Center.

Simply offering more practical training is only part of the solution to this ‘new thinking’ to encourage business start-ups, but I believe Inc hit on something that even they may not realize the impact of – Get them while they are young.

Finding the Bill Gates of the sixth grade?

Inc’s report targeted middle school aged students as the ideal age group to teach entrepreneurial principles. Personally, I think the younger the better, while appropriately increasing the level of education as the child grows. While Inc’s ideal is to find the Bill Gates of the sixth grade, I think we need to find the hidden gold in each of our children at the earliest possible age. Creating real life work scenerios in the form of mock or real business as educational projects can reveal a child’s inner talents faster than any other extracurricular activity. Why? Because the rewards of such activities are very real, measurable, and are directly related to what they see in their everyday life. A boy may love cars, but how does he translate into productive, real life work?

Inc’s bottom line on educating young entrepreneurs:

“Putting ideas into action may be the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs. Teaching youngsters how to do it is among the best investments we can make.”

Homeschool Entrepreneur’s bottom line:

Making practical entrepreneurial education a relevant part of every child’s education from a young age does much more than teach them how to create a new  business. It provides children with an understanding of how the economy actually works, because every job either involves running a business, or working for someone that does. Would it make a difference if everyone understood how business success or failure affects everyone, especially our economy? We study history to  learn from the past to avoid repeating historic mistakes. To study entrepreneurship in the same manner will encourage a new mindset – a mindset that is mindful of building America’s economy by either building strong businesses that create good jobs, or being an employee that does the best they can to help their company grow resulting from the belief that their contribution really does make a difference. Entrepreneurship education isn’t just for business owners, because a strong economy also relies on good employees supporting those businesses. When everyone understands what is at stake, some ‘new thinking’ will naturally take place. Then, if a time comes that anyone wants to start a business, they will know exactly where to start and success will be much more likely. Replacing the ‘worker bee’ mentality with a dedicated attitude towards success. Creation of business incubators, launch pads and practical start-up resources will be encouraged and common place, easy to find, and a valid tax deduction.  The knowledge void that currently plagues many would-be entrepreneurs will be a thing of the past.

Please read the entire article on Inc’s Revitalization Plan. I realize I was a little biased by only elaborating on the educational aspects. Their take on providing more practical tools to encourage start-ups are inspirational. Matching ideas and investors, tax incentives to help all involved, and wait till you read about the TechShop in Menlo Park, California. We could use one of those in every major US city. Let me know what you think of the article, and your ideas about how we can start teaching our children now how they can impact our economy by thinking entrepreneurially.

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