photo: Back Pocket COO
Prev. published June 2010
Cameron Herold is an entrepreneur and proud of it. He also did not do well in school for a variety of reasons with the main one being how his ADHD manifestations were at odds with the expectations of the school "system".
We really think this TED video has some powerful messages that parents and educators may find both enlightening and disturbing on various levels. Our rush to have kids fit into the increasingly standardized-tested-mold presently heralded by our policy-makers is NOT the best plan for the interests and future success of many of our most talented children. There are unique strengths, interests and talents where one size does not fit all.
Herold points out how entrepreneurship is often viewed by education elites as something outside the purview of education. He asks parents and teachers to be able to "find these kids with entrepreneurial traits" by being able to recognize the signs, and to help "foster this talent". If one realizes that our country's economic health is driven by small business owners with the majority share of total jobs and revenue coming from small businesses, we may reconsider the short shrift given to the premise of entrepreneurship. See related post,
Kauffman Foundation & Charlie Rose on Education and Entrepreneurship.
Herold also enjoys sharing some bold pronouncements, such as how "Bi-polar Disorder is nicknamed the CEO disease" and goes on to name a host of super-star CEO's with the disease, such as Apple's Steve Jobs, CNN founder Ted Turner, and Netscape founder Jim Barksdale.
Now we all know this entrepreneurial drive is not correlated to a learning disability or disorder. Yet, entrepreneurs are different. They just may not want to become college professors, corporate executives, or government policy administrators.
The point here is maybe decision-makers in education are often too quick to judge and label students -- who may not just like school in its current mode -- as having a learning disability, or and/or are not interested in learning. With warnings like these, such as one recent essay by Daniel Willingham in The Washington Post's Answer Sheet here, why bother looking at the possible dysfunction of the school in its present structure, such as the elimination of recess and the arts? Sir Ken Robinson addresses this issue head-on brilliantly here and with Mike Huckabee here, who posits that we've squeezed the life out of school with testing and myopic goals.
The other aspect of "entrepreneurs in school" is they display traits that are just "annoying" to the way things are expected in most school cultures: tenacity, independence, the ability to handle failure, creative risk-taking and questioning authority ("why do we have to do this?"). Entrepreneurs are doers. While we may talk about promoting these traits/skills in school, the students who display these characteristics, are probably found in the principal's office more often than the more compliant student.
If you are short on time since this is a TED talk, check out the first five minutes and the last few for a provocative intro and wrap-up. (The mid-section of his speech gives a host of examples of how kid-like entrepreneurial activities - with goals/tactics that may not be the best or most virtuous illustrations, but the big picture is the point of this post).
Like his style or not, there are points that ring true. It would be nice if he added "ethics" to the list of traits to be taught and admired on the lists he presents in the conclusion, along with the many entrepeneurs who build businesses for idealistic and altruistic reason, and not just money.
What's your riff on this?
Related:
10 Ways to Be An Entrepreneur
Prev. published June 2010
"We're Giving Them Ritalin & Saying To Them:
Don't Be An Entrepreneur Type,
Fit Into This Other System And Become A Student"
Video Below
Don't Be An Entrepreneur Type,
Fit Into This Other System And Become A Student"
Video Below
By C.J. Westerberg
Cameron Herold is an entrepreneur and proud of it. He also did not do well in school for a variety of reasons with the main one being how his ADHD manifestations were at odds with the expectations of the school "system".
We really think this TED video has some powerful messages that parents and educators may find both enlightening and disturbing on various levels. Our rush to have kids fit into the increasingly standardized-tested-mold presently heralded by our policy-makers is NOT the best plan for the interests and future success of many of our most talented children. There are unique strengths, interests and talents where one size does not fit all.
Herold points out how entrepreneurship is often viewed by education elites as something outside the purview of education. He asks parents and teachers to be able to "find these kids with entrepreneurial traits" by being able to recognize the signs, and to help "foster this talent". If one realizes that our country's economic health is driven by small business owners with the majority share of total jobs and revenue coming from small businesses, we may reconsider the short shrift given to the premise of entrepreneurship. See related post,
Kauffman Foundation & Charlie Rose on Education and Entrepreneurship.
Herold also enjoys sharing some bold pronouncements, such as how "Bi-polar Disorder is nicknamed the CEO disease" and goes on to name a host of super-star CEO's with the disease, such as Apple's Steve Jobs, CNN founder Ted Turner, and Netscape founder Jim Barksdale.
Now we all know this entrepreneurial drive is not correlated to a learning disability or disorder. Yet, entrepreneurs are different. They just may not want to become college professors, corporate executives, or government policy administrators.
The point here is maybe decision-makers in education are often too quick to judge and label students -- who may not just like school in its current mode -- as having a learning disability, or and/or are not interested in learning. With warnings like these, such as one recent essay by Daniel Willingham in The Washington Post's Answer Sheet here, why bother looking at the possible dysfunction of the school in its present structure, such as the elimination of recess and the arts? Sir Ken Robinson addresses this issue head-on brilliantly here and with Mike Huckabee here, who posits that we've squeezed the life out of school with testing and myopic goals.
The other aspect of "entrepreneurs in school" is they display traits that are just "annoying" to the way things are expected in most school cultures: tenacity, independence, the ability to handle failure, creative risk-taking and questioning authority ("why do we have to do this?"). Entrepreneurs are doers. While we may talk about promoting these traits/skills in school, the students who display these characteristics, are probably found in the principal's office more often than the more compliant student.
If you are short on time since this is a TED talk, check out the first five minutes and the last few for a provocative intro and wrap-up. (The mid-section of his speech gives a host of examples of how kid-like entrepreneurial activities - with goals/tactics that may not be the best or most virtuous illustrations, but the big picture is the point of this post).
Like his style or not, there are points that ring true. It would be nice if he added "ethics" to the list of traits to be taught and admired on the lists he presents in the conclusion, along with the many entrepeneurs who build businesses for idealistic and altruistic reason, and not just money.
What's your riff on this?
Related:
10 Ways to Be An Entrepreneur
Video below
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