Why Is it missing f r omEducat ion?
focusing on making the students proficient on
the subject. The results show that students are
passing the tests but are not competent in the
subjects.
to be valuable to an employer ? or better yet,
how to create her own business, and create
her own jobs. THAT SHOULD BE THE
AMERICAN WAY.
In other words, school became more rigorous
and mechanical, but the scope or quality of
education did not improve, and the assembly
line model of education remained the same.
One of my best friends has a son named
Garrett who barely graduated high school.
When I say barely, I mean that it was a small
miracle and a lot of hard work from his mom
to get him over the finish line. The crazy part
is, this kid will likely be the highest paid
graduate of his class within two years. How is
this possible?
School no longer serves to expand students?
possibilities in life, or enrich their experience.
Instead it focuses on passing meaningless
standardized tests.
When I was at college, most students cared
very little for the classes they were in, and
they would simply binge study right before
each test, and then binge party right after.
Students likely did not retain 95% of the
material taught in class.
If you w ent to college you might remember
this behavior. Still, college has its value,
especially for those preparing for careers in
scientific, medical, and other specialized
fields.
However, I have a cousin who has worked for
15 years as a computer programmer for
Oracle. He told me anybody could learn to do
his job through free information on the
Internet. He said you don?t need to go to
college to be good at programming, as long as
you?re drawn to that type of work and have an
aptitude for it.
If you have a 16-year-old kid with a talent and
an interest in becoming a computer
programmer, why not lead her down the free
Fortunately, Garrett pursued a hobby while
going to school ? welding. If there was ever a
welding class offered at school he found a
way to take it. He looked for opportunities
outside of school to learn about welding as
well. When he was a senior, he entered a
statewide welding contest and took first
place. He was awarded a scholarship to a
two-year specialized welding school that
boasts a 100% job placement rate. The
average starting wage for welders is well over
$100k a year ? not bad for a guy who
?barely? graduated high school.
Our country was founded by entrepreneurs
and skilled trades people. We lost sight of that
during the Industrial Age. We saw a
resurgence of entrepreneurism during and
after the Great Depression, because people
could no longer expect someone to hire them,
even if they were well-trained and skilled. We
soon fell back into our dependent ways
relying on other people to hire us to make a
living. Now we are coming out of another
our current education system.
As an employer in today?s new economy, I no
longer care about someone?s level of
education. Just because a student did well at
school, that doesn?t necessarily mean they
will be a good asset to my company. I care
more about their ability to think creatively
and respond to challenges ?outside the box,?
and their tenacity to learn.
In the real world the answer is typically not A,
B, C, or D (like it is at school). Rather, the
answer is often J or W. The quicker an
employee can figure that out, the more
valuable they are to me.
Why in heck do schools not offer more
entrepreneurial education? I have a business
degree, but all that taught me was how to
climb the corporate ladder, and how to be an
attractive prospect for a Fortune 500
company. Why don't business schools focus
at least 50% of their education on
entrepreneurial skills and business start up
lessons? Check out these facts in a report by
Forbes.com:
1) There are almost 28 million small
businesses in the US, and over 22 mil l ion
peopl e are sel f empl oyed wit h no addit ional
payrol l or empl oyees.
2) Over 50% of the working population (120
million individuals)works in a small business.
3) Small businesses have generated
over 65% of the net new jobs since 1995.
Why doesn?t our educat ion syst em ?
anywhere f rom kindergart en t hrough col l ege
? incl ude cl asses on how t o creat e our own
jobs?
Luckil y, many of us have l earned t his
empowering skil l on our own (t he hard way).
In a recent issue of the Turner Files newsletter,
I featured an article called ?How Sucking at
School Made Me A Better Entrepreneur.? The
current education system wasn?t a good fit for
me. I couldn?t wait to be done with school. It
felt like a necessary evil. I was ready to go
conquer the world but felt shackled by the
education system. Looking back, I should have
left it sooner ? that certainly worked for
these famous entrepreneurs:
St eve Jobs
education path right away rather than pushing
her to spend four years and $150k at college?
Why not set him up with a mentor in that field
to help guide him? Why not give her the
freedom to teach herself the skills necessary
6
recession, and with all the under-employed
workers out there, my bet is you'll start to see
a whole new wave of entrepreneurs in the
American workforce. But don't expect those
entrepreneurs to get much of any help from
Have
you
ever
seen
Steve
Jobs?
commencement speech at Stanford in 2005? I
highly recommend it for a number reasons.
Did you know he never finished college? Did
you know that during his speech he even says
dropping out of college was the best decision
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