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March 30, 2012
Can We Teach Students To Be Entrepreneurs?
Recently, I heard Bill Gates talk to a group of school heads in Seattle about his education and subsequent career. He had attended a private school in Seattle called Lakeside, and he showed his high school graduation photo from the school, which was, in fact the first and last time he ever graduated from anything! When school administrators became aware of his abilities, he was asked to write the school's computer program to schedule students in classes, which he did in such a way to place himself in classes with mostly female students. While at school, at age 17, he and classmate Paul Allan formed a company called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor.
Gates was introduced by Bernie Noe, Lakeside's current Head of School, who said that there is only one thing a school can do when confronted with a student of such exceptional entrepreneurial abilities: “Get out of the way!”
Which brings me to the question of what is, exactly, entrepreneurship, and what, if anything, can schools do to encourage, promote, or teach it?
A traditional definition of entrepreneurship would be one that focuses on individuals who engage in new business formation and display a risk-taking spirit and creative flare in doing so. Bill Gates (and many of our parents at TFS) falls comfortably in this category. One of those parents is Bruce Poon Tip, who founded GAP Adventures (now G Adventures), and who will be speaking to the school community at 7 pm Tuesday 3 April in the MPR of the Senior School on the subject “Believe in Change: New Leadership in a New World”, an event organized by TFS Parents' Association.
But a young entrepreneur called Gonzalo Riva describes developing the perspective and skill sets of an entrepreneur more broadly. “It gets kids thinking less like employees or managers, and more like creators, leaders, or actively engaged followers. . . Even doctors, lawyer, educators, engineers, politicians, and bankers can use broader horizons and more versatile toolkits.”
What is good about this definition is that it is more inclusive and that it goes beyond more traditionally defined business skills to recognize that entrepreneurship is really at its core an attitude, a way of being, a frame of mind.
I would argue that this concept embraces at least two of the ten attributes of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile. First, entrepreneurs have to be Inquirers. “They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.”
The second attribute is Risk-takers. “They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas, and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.”
Who would not want their children to be inquirers and risk-takers? This view of entrepreneurship allows for such sub-species as “social entrepreneur” or “public policy entrepreneur” or “educational entrepreneur”. Here the metric for success is less measured in dollars (although that might be one of the positive outcomes) and more measured in the positive changes that flow from risk-taking creative activity.
So where do schools fit in when it comes to creating entrepreneurs in this more inclusive sense? Gonzalo Riva suggests there are three things we can teach our students to become more entrepreneurial. First, there is a process component, inquiry-based learning which starts with curiosity and includes creation, testing, failure and iteration. Then there is the knowledge component, the hard and soft skills needed for learning. Finally, there is the reflective component, “which allows students to constantly double back and make meaning out of the ways they are challenging their previous modes of thinking and valuing.”
I would argue that as TFS becomes a full continuum International Baccalaureate school with the addition of the Primary Years Program and the Middle Years Program, we will be promoting more of this kind of thinking, reflecting, and doing. But I also think we need to ask ourselves whether we could be doing more within our existing curriculum to get our students thinking more entrepreneurially.
Another possibility is forming an Entrepreneurs Club in the Senior School for those students who are specifically drawn by the idea of starting their own businesses and who would like to meet parents or alumni who have done so. I would encourage members of the TFS community to contact me with their reactions and ideas by clicking here.
And then, of course, we have those students who are simply getting on with being entrepreneurial without waiting for our direction or approval. One of those is Holly Pruner, a Level IV student in the Senior School who decided last summer that she would like to make a feature length film during the course of the school year. She enlisted the help of fellow-student Tim Alberdingk Thjim, who then wrote the script. Together with her associates Alicia Renaud, Celeste Kim, and Kim Ng, Holly enlisted the help of 40 fellow students from Levels II to V. There were 10 actors, a production crew of 15 to 20 students, an editing team of 10, and another crew of event planners and ticket sellers.
Filming took place between November and February. Holly and her associates wanted the project to involve all of the arts: acting, music, visual, as well as technology skills. TFS, through the person of our redoubtable teacher Doug Doughty, provided most of the equipment. Students provided all the clothing and scrounged all of the props (Parent Alert! Check your living rooms!). Holly contacted a TFS alumnus, Otto Chung, who volunteered to give a workshop on editing on a Saturday. Holly also persuaded a director and producer, both associated with the Raindance Film Festival in London, England, to come and give workshops, as well as soliciting help from a set designer from the television show Covert Affairs.
So on a budget of $700 (!) provided by the TFS Parents' Association, our intrepid film company has produced a 50 minute feature film, Superpowers, which will have its opening night on Saturday 14 April 6.30 pm at the Royal Cinema, 608 College Street. Tickets go on sale from April 2-13 in the foyer of the Senior School, and may also be purchased at the door.
Holly says at first the project was a struggle, and there were setbacks, but she summarizes the ultimate benefits of the project as being “Different, fun, student-empowering, and covering all the arts. . . It brought people together.”
That sounds a lot like a great educational experience to me. So what can schools do to encourage entrepreneurship? Maybe just get out of the way (and occasionally lend a helping hand).
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