Education for entrepreneurs. We need an educational system that, while teaching math and science and reading and writing, also stresses creativity, initiative, risk analysis, and thoroughness.

We need an educational system that, while teaching math and science and reading and writing, also stresses creativity, initiative, risk analysis, and thoroughness; namely, the same sorts of traits that help make one a good entrepreneur and an informed, smart citizen. We are living in an entrepreneurial age, and that will only increase as the century progresses.

Q: Steve, I caught you on Fox News this morning. (Glad you ditched the moustache and goatee!) It’s interesting to note that entrepreneurs succeed in the U.S. in spite of our education system, not because of it. Our education system is designed to turn out "good employees," not "good entrepreneurs." That education model needs to change.

Tom, Dayton, Ohio

A: I have to agree with you in great measure, Tom. We have an education system that was created around the time of the Industrial Revolution when we needed to turn rural kids into urban employees capable of working in assembly line, mass-market factories. As a result, we ended up with a school system focused on rote memorization and measurable, predictable results.

While that was all well and good for that new economy, it does not seem to make sense for this New Economy. In this interdependent global world, where little is the new big (nano technology, iPods, and small businesses rule the day here, in China, and in India for starters), re-thinking school makes sense.

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/strauss/2006-06-26-education_x.htm