For Wisconsin Entrepreneurs By Wisconsin Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship Should Be a Requirement in Education, Not a Reason to Drop Out
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It's true that a university education isn't worth it for a lot of people. I wouldn't want to start in on a career in social work with $80K or more in debt. This doesn't mean that going to college doesn't provide value to most people. State schools and community or technical colleges are are going to be a perfect fit for some. They're cheaper alternatives that provide many of the same benefits I'll mention later in this post.
A Typical Education
My own experience is a good example of why the skills you learn in college are incredibly important. I actually went to grad school and I'm incredibly glad that I did. I wanted to do computer graphics. In particular, I wanted to work in special effects for the movie industry.
That didn't happen (although it could have), but something better came along. I landed a job in medical imaging doing 3-D visualization. It was right up my alley and the company happened to be where I met my current co-founders. Now, I'm two and a half years into a startup using skills that I wouldn't have learned anywhere other than in college. I would have never made it here if it wasn't for my education.
Some people will argue that I could have learned a lot of those skills outside of school. But it was a particular class during my senior year that piqued my interest and turned out to drive a lot of my passion for grad school. Had I tried to learn this all on my own, I may have never found that. I wasn't one of those people that wanted to start a company right after high school either. It was my experience in the "real world" that made me want to get out on my own.
Most recently, it was an article by Fred Wilson that fueled my ire. I agree that you probably won't learn about a lot of the fundamental skills of an entrepreneur in college. In fact, I don't believe that it makes sense to have an entrepreneurial degree. However, there are an incredible number of less concrete benefits of going to college.
The Intangible Benefits of College
I was happy to see that there are a few people who realize that college has some other benefits. There are a couple of other things that I'd like to add though.
First, and foremost, almost everyone will tell you that an entrepreneur's driving trait is his passion. Without the drive to invest an incredible amount of time into your startup, it's nearly destined for failure. What if, like me, you haven't discovered your passion yet? College is a place to find this out. It may be because of a book, a class, a professor, a friend, or a lover. If you're going to find it somewhere though, chances are it's going to be in college.
Equally as important is the network of friends and contacts you develop through school. This is the entire reason that alumni associations exist. It makes things like moving to a new city or starting a new business much easier. Being a successful entrepreneur absolutely requires your ability to leverage your network. The bigger your network is, the better your chances of survival.
Aside from all of that, college was a place where I truly grew into myself. As I've said before, I really liked the fact that UW-Madison's Computer Science program wasn't in the engineering school. It meant that I took lots of classes like Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Classical Mythology, Cultural Anthropology, Black Theatre, and Modern Literature. I am honestly who am I now because of this.
Building a Set of Means
Thought about differently, college is an opportunity to develop a large set of means through which you can achieve many different goals. A growing body of research about entrepreneurship is in the area of Effectuation:
"Effectual reasoning does not begin with a specific goal. Instead, it begins with a given set of means and allows goals to emerge contingently over time from the varied imagination and diverse aspirations of the founders and the people they interact with."
Saras D. Sarasvathy met with 30 different expert entrepreneurs to begin understanding what it really means to be an entrepreneur. The results are effectual reasoning. The basic idea is the entrepreneurs don't necessarily go into an endeavor with an exact goal (causal reasoning) but that they use the tools at their disposal to determine what the potential outcomes are. If this really is how entrepreneurs think, then education is the perfect medium for growing the set of means an individual has at his or her disposal.
Entrepreneurship in Education
Just about everywhere you look, there are quotes from people who believe that entrepreneurship will be the way outof the recession. Historically, we have never focused on entrepreneurship in schools. Not just colleges either but in primary and secondary education.
It was three years between the time that I really found my passion and when I started my first company. It wasn't for a lack of ideas, however. It was a matter of ignorance regarding what it would take to get out on my own. Eventually my brother and I figured it out but not without significant effort and a bit of trial and error.
Last year I had a chance to talk to a local high school class. The class was called "Starting Your Own Business,"I was amazed that it even existed. As I thought about it more, I realized the missed opportunity. In giving teenagers the knowledge they need to start their own company, we give them the ability to take an idea as it comes along and turn it into their own company without delay. The realization that they can do it is always there, all they need is the spark to ignite the fire. In my case the sparks came and went. I never knew that they could be turned into companies.
Building for the Future
In the back of my head I've been building my idea for an improved educational system over the past year or so. Only in the past month has it really come into its own. Effectuation struck a cord with me. In looking back at the two companies that I've started, the theory becomes crystal clear.
The first time, it was a vague idea about a forum for the outdoors that evolved into a website that allowed people to journal and map their outdoor activities. The final idea was based on the skill set shared between my brother and myself. The second time, I sat around a conference table with three other people for two months, prototyping different ideas and brainstorming possibilities. Skills in programming, graphics, and building extensible systems turned into a platform that lets people create their own games.
If we give students the gift of foresight in realizing that they can start their own companies, we open up an entirely different set of possibilities for them. The classes they take and the books they read turn into opportunities rather than obligations. They become means to any of a thousand potential goals. If students want to start companies rather than go to school then we need to find ways to cultivate that in our education system rather than exclude them from it. These are the people most capable of driving economic development in our country so it's our responsibility to give then the tools and support to do so.
Comment
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Comment by Ben Garney on May 12, 2009 at 7:56pm -
In a way, I took the apprenticeship route - I learned a lot about CS from my dad, and subsequently from the founding partners at my first startup. They were all very talented, experienced developers, and I had the opportunity to learn a lot from them. I definitely didn't learn in a vacuum. I got my theory by bugging my dad, who has a graduate degree in CS, about how computers worked. I got exposed to the "softer" stuff from my mother, who has a medieval studies degree. Most people don't have those luxuries. :)
I think that if my college experience had been different, I would have been a lot more interested. At the startup, people took me seriously and helped me improve. At college, professors dismissed me because they had no time to get to know me, and failed to interest me because they weren't teaching anything relevant to my skill level. I am sure that at the right college, the story would have been very different. The human connection is king.
I made a huge bet - that I was at least as smart as I thought I was and didn't need a formal CS education to pursue my career. So far it has paid off, which I attribute to luck as much as talent, but I think that it is an easy trap to fall into as an invincible 18 year old to think you've got it all figured out. I have a half dozen friends who that didn't work out for.
And that's where the blanket statements definitely have the potential to get people in trouble. If it becomes accepted that you can skip college and not miss out, that would be a big problem. The whole "college as extension of highschool" is a worrisome development because I think it means there are fewer students pursuing college for their own goals, and more students doing it because it is the expected thing.
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Comment by Dale Beermann on May 12, 2009 at 7:15pm -
Well put, Ben. It's always good to hear new perspectives on the issue. I'm curious what your thoughts are about different types of educational systems that are more along the lines of apprenticeship (I mentioned technical colleges, but I'm guessing this wouldn't have worked for you either). For software developers, this is typically a difficult route to go because there is an amount of background required to be exceptionally proficient in this field. It typically comes from an theoretical education, but you're certainly proof that it isn't required.
I agree as well, that this is a complex issue. However, I will always dismiss blanket statements that influence people in the direction of dropping out. For me, college (and grad school) was the right path. For you it wasn't, yet we're at incredibly similar places in our careers. We both have entrepreneurial mindsets and both have a passion for our field, but took different routes that provided the same result. I feel that the majority of people benefit from a normal education. If we can help tailor that education to a particular student's needs, then we further reduce the number of people exiled by an educational system in which they don't feel comfortable.
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Comment by Ben Garney on May 12, 2009 at 6:31pm
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This is such a fantastically complex issue. I hated college, dropped out early, and got more out of life before and after than I did during. But I would not recommend that route to most people.
The comments at http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/02/one-thing-you-dont-need-to-be-an-entrepreneur-a-college-degree.html are fantastic, even if the article pushes your hot buttons. Before I dropped out I interviewed as many people as I could find who had dropped out or never gone to college to see what they thought about it. Many had been out in the world 20-30 years, married, had kids my age, etc. so they had a pretty good perspective.
They basically said that if I wasn't getting anything out of college, I might as well do something more productive. It worked for them. Many of them had gone back to school a decade or two later and had a great time.
Schooling is no replacement for education. If you are truly getting an education, then college is worth the price. But if all you're doing is attending a school, maybe there is something better you can do with your time. Don't go out into the world uneducated if you can help it.
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Comment by Molly Lahr on March 13, 2009 at 5:43pm -
Hello Dale. This is my first post with Propel WI...So bear with me!
I think that you are spot on. I went the traditional route for college, 4 years straight though, playing a D-1 sport and obtaining 2 degrees in the mix. To be honest, I really didn't know that there were other options than that route.
There are many things that I am thankful for from my experience at Creighton, but three that stick out as major events that have molded me into the person I am today, and exactly where I want to go.
All things in College that I could not have learned any other place:
1. Playing a sport forced me to manage my time down to the minute. I think that this was an extremely hard thing for me to learn, but has been a deciding factor in internships, honor finance classes, and my career.
2. Taking Entrepreneurial Finance as a Junior at Creighton. Local entrepreneurs were brought in weekly to discuss their successes, failures, and continuing vision for the success of the local economy. Real life examples of where and how regular people obtain help with their business plans, loans, and investors at all levels. Knowing this has given me a long term goal of being one of the people who aids in the process for innovators to make their stamp in their communities and maybe the world!
3. Working for a non-profit. I started as an intern at a PGA Tour Nationwide Tour event and immediately fell in love with the work that goes into giving back to the community. I continue this passion now as I step into a career with MAGNET.
All three of these things happened to me in college. The education was at my disposal and what I made out of it was up to me. I think that there are plenty of adults that think starting their own gig is a means to the way out of corporate life or blue collar work, but the truth is that there needs to be a educational process to lead to that success. Keep in mind that there is plenty of room for improvement from the education side as well.
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell are of a tiny population of mega successful non-grads. Each of them have had unbelievable success, and I would venture to say that they surround themselves with people that are very smart and educated people.
I don't know if my post is relevant, but I really liked your message and I think it is very applicable to a lot of people.
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Comment by Matthew Metzger on March 13, 2009 at 11:16am -
Yes, busy work is a huge problem. I taught for three years at a private school. The school had the opportunity to do things differently because they had complete control over the school and curriculum. Unfortunately, most teachers just reverted to lots of homework and had difficultly creating projects that had real world application.
This is a cultural problem. We've created an artificial cultural structure known as school that is the complete opposite of what it was originally meant to be. The root word for education means "to lead forth, or to draw out". The root word for school means "leisure", with the idea of giving the student time to think and pursue knowledge and skill as their interests lead them, with the guidance to mentors.
The busy work of modern school completely destroys this leisure by taking up the students entire day by being shuffled from classroom to classroom every 45 minutes. And then expecting the student to do homework, sports, and fund raising after school is supposed to be done. There is no realization for the student that they can have a life outside of school or an alternative to it. That's the real tragedy.
I think you've got great ideas. I hope that you are successful in bringing good change to our schools. I'm just doubtful schools can be meaningfully changed without being scrapped (dismantled by the market as more students choose private options or to drop out entirely). Laws preventing students from dropping out of school are essentially the imprisonment of young people.
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Comment by Dale Beermann on March 13, 2009 at 10:44am
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I think it's important to understand that the "busy work" you talked about is the hindrance. This is the issue that I think we're trying to tackle. I think that it's possible to teach many different subjects in the context of entrepreneurship. It's also not just college education, but high school and even middle school.
I'm also not saying that people should be starting their own companies all over the place. When I think about my comp. sci. classes, I wish that some of the projects that I was doing were in the context of real-world applications. This is another topic that we've been discussing - providing industry validation of curriculum. There is a lack of tie-in between the subjects you learn and their applicability that can probably be improved.
Most importantly, I think that students lack the realization that they can start their own companies. I didn't really think much about this until late in my college education. Knowing how many of my friends have started companies seems to validate that this is fairly common.
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Comment by Matthew Metzger on March 13, 2009 at 10:24am
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I went to college and I'm glad I did. However, few of the skills I learned in college transfer to my entrepreneurial ambitions. In fact, I believe college can hinder that ambition by four years of busy work and a social structure that extends childhood.
It was necessity that drove me to start my own business (although my desire for freedom is strong).
While I enjoyed college and benefited from it, it's not something that I'm going to press my children to pursue. There are other ways of getting a world-class education, through travel, private study, and apprenticeship.
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell are all college drop outs. I don't think they succeeded just because they dropped out. However, the fact that they weren't afraid to probably led to their success.
You make a good argument for incorporating entrepreneurial learning into the college setting, but there are other options and I believe more people will be taking them. I'm definitely up for discussing this more as it's a subject I'm very interested in.
© 2010 Created by Dale Beermann
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