Teaching entrepreneurship at the grade school level is a great opportunity with a simple formula, yet difficult to implement in today’s society. Nurturing natural curiosity while allowing for boredom plants seeds of creativity which blossom into entrepreneurship. If left alone, the cycle is quite natural.
However, here in the US, schools are pressured by parental values to keep children busy—busy is equated with learning. This flaw in thinking should be obvious. However, Baby-Boomers and Generation X’ers grew up in environments where you kept up with the Jones’ for social status and out-worked your boss (in hours, not productivity) for career advancement. Millennials are more open-minded and as parents, they will recognize that being busy doesn’t equal learning more.
As anything institutional continues to give way to activities that allow for individual expression, the freedom to explore one’s own mind should find renewed importance in our education systems. Modern day classrooms must do three things to teach entrepreneurship and cultivate job creators of tomorrow: nurture talent, inspire curiosity, and provoke critical thinking.