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Educating Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs... Before It's Too Late Cliff Ennico www.creators.com As I have been speaking to entrepreneur groups around the country the past few months, I am often surprised, if not shocked, at how little most people starting out in their own businesses know about the fundamentals of the business world. In most cases, they are not to blame. The American education system never prepared them for living the lives they now live. Instead, it trained them to be something else #150; doctors, lawyers, engineers, corporate executives, technicians of one sort or another. Now, I am not an educator (at least not professionally), so I cannot tell you what the goals of today#146;s education system are. From what I read, a fair number of education experts think there should be no goals at all #150; that education is and should be an end in itself. Fair enough. But why shouldn#146;t one of the goals of our educational system be to prepare today#146;s students to become tomorrow#146;s entrepreneurs? If current economic and demographic trends continue many if not most of today#146;s students will have to run their own businesses at some point in their lives just to keep body and soul together. How can our educational system be redesigned to produce competent business people with the entrepreneurial spirit and the survival skills necessary to run those businesses? These are questions we need to at least think about. You could write a book on this subject, but here are a few creative suggestions for modifying the traditional curriculum in ways that will give American high school and college students at least a fighting chance in the tough, no holds barred economy of tomorrow, without busting the fragile budgets most public and private school systems labor under. If you#146;ve got any better ideas, I#146;d love to hear them (and I#146;m sure I will). Make Business Courses Mandatory . Back in the 1960s, when I was in high school, business courses were not considered #147;fast track#148;. The college bound kids took #147;academic#148; courses while the rest took business or vocational courses. Sadly, from what I#146;ve seen, things haven#146;t changed much. Business education needs to be integrated at every level of the educational process, and placed on a par with the more traditional #147;academic#148; subjects. There is no reason why a middle school student can#146;t learn the basic accounting equation (assets equal liabilities plus owners#146; equity), or a high school student can#146;t master basic bookkeeping techniques. Accounting, economics, marketing, finance and business law should be required subjects for graduating from any American high school. Mathematics . Today#146;s high school math program starts with algebra, then progresses through geometry, trigonometry and calculus. Fine and dandy. But what about #147;business math#148; -- probability, statistics, finite mathematics and quantitative methods for making business decisions? Many high schools relegate these subjects to a single #147;elective#148; course in the senior year (if they are offered at all), when they really should be integrated throughout the core math curriculum. Psychology . Understanding people, how they think and behave, is essential to running a successful business. Why, then, is it that most students never learn even basic human psychology until they#146;re in college? Teaching kids how the human mind works at an earlier stage will not only help them understand and appreciate others, but themselves as well. I can appreciate that teaching this material at too young an age can be very damaging, but juniors and seniors in high school should be able to handle it. Languages . American students not only need to learn more foreign languages, but they need to learn the right ones, the ones that will shape tomorrow#146;s world economy. Not to knock French and Italian, but the languages of the future (other than English) are Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. Chinese, so you can understand your future boss. Spanish, so you can communicate with your employees and coworkers. Arabic, so you can appreciate what motivates America#146;s current enemies, and do what you can to make them appreciate what motivates us. Every high school student should be proficient at a basic conversational level in at least two languages other than English. At least one of those should be an Asian language. Typing/Keyboarding/Computer Skills . Every kid should be able to type at least 50 words per minute by the time they reach high school. Every high school graduate should be proficient in the basic word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software programs that drive American business. Physical Education . Too many gym programs favor the athletically gifted kids. There are lessons you learn on the athletic field that you learn nowhere else, and the #147;jocks#148; should not have a monopoly on them. A more general #147;health and wellness#148; approach to physical education #150; focusing on individual physical fitness, exercise, nutrition, stress management and the dynamics of competition and teamwork #150; should help most students survive the heavy demands the entrepreneurial life places on the human body and soul. History . Economic, business and technological history should be placed on a par with political, military and social/cultural history. Kids should know who George Washington and Emily Dickinson were, of course, but they should also know what Henry Ford, Jethro Tull (the British inventor of the seed drill, not the rock band), the Securities Act of 1933, the Hollywood studio system, and the silicon chip contributed to the world we live in. Career Education and Counseling . Finally, we really need to do more to help kids figure out who they are, identify their unique strengths and weaknesses, and develop at least some idea of how they might fit into the world of work, business and the economy before they are thrown out into it to fend for themselves. Most people graduate college with only the vaguest idea of what different careers are all about #150; when I speak at high schools and colleges, you should HEAR what these kids think lawyers do for a living! Too many young Americans are entering the professions not because they are gifted in that direction, but because #147;that#146;s where the money is#148;, #147;that#146;s where the status and prestige is#148;, #147;it looks so cool on television#148; or (most sadly) #147;that#146;s what you should do with a college education#148;. Many of these folks learn only much later in life #150; after the decision was made for them by an employer, a recession, a family crisis or an illness -- that they really should have done something different with their lives. By then it#146;s too late #150; they#146;ve climbed to the top of the ladder, but the ladder#146;s propped up against the wrong building, and there#146;s not enough time to start over again from scratch. The #147;career day#148; and #147;take your son/daughter to work#148; programs are not nearly enough. We need to expose students at all levels of education to as many different career paths as possible, help them identify their interest in (and suitability for) specific careers throughout their developing years, and give them a working idea of what those careers are really all about. Yes, things will change, and many jobs that are attractive today won#146;t exist in 20 years (or will be outsourced to other countries). But the greatest gift we can give today#146;s students is to remind them that someday their schooling will end, and that they need to start thinking today about choosing a path that will make them successful, or at least happy, tomorrow. Cliff Ennico ( cennico@legalcareer.com ) is a syndicated columnist, author and host of the PBS television series 'Money Hunt'. This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com . COPYRIGHT 2005 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com