Students Look To Learn Entrepreneurial Skills

Today’s teens hope to someday be their own bosses-and they want their education to work for them.

That’s the finding from a recent survey showing that more than half of teens would like to start their own businesses someday, and an overwhelming majority of them believe that entrepreneurial skills should be taught in school. However, 88 percent felt it would be “difficult but possible” or “somewhat challenging” to start their own business.

Experts have echoed the teens’ call for education, saying lessons in entrepreneurship would better equip them with skills such as leadership, problem solving and critical thinking-abilities that are seen as keys to success in today’s global, knowledge-based economy.

Working Knowledge
It’s a lesson not lost on Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, the group that sponsored the survey. To help today’s teens become tomorrow’s business owners, the organization launched “JA Be Entrepreneurial.” Created through support from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the program is targeted toward high school students. Through hands-on activities and the support of a classroom volunteer, it helps students start and run their own business ventures.

Future Success
Kosakowski and others say the program could pay off for teens down the road. In fact, in a separate poll conducted by Junior Achievement and Gallup, 61 percent of employees and hiring managers said that being entrepreneurial at their companies was either “very” or “somewhat” important. Additionally, 96 percent said that it was important for the American workforce to become “more entrepreneurial to remain competitive in the world.”

Gaining An Edge
You can visit http://www.ja.org to learn more about developing entrepreneurial skills and about Junior Achievement. The group is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating young people about work readiness and entrepreneurship, as well as financial literacy.

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