Entrepreneurship vs. Education

By John Malmo

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-918883.mp3

Entrepreneurship vs. Education, by John Malmo

Memphis, TN – Now people are preaching an entrepreneurship sermon as an alternative to education. "Why get an education when you can just be an entrepreneur instead?" they preach. I'm serious.

A guy named Cameron Herold says, for instance, and I paraphrase, "If your kid's bored in school, failing classes, and at odds with peers, this child might be an entrepreneur." Another guy on the web, Tim Berry, says this has now become a movement. And he says it's a trap.

Well, I've been an entrepreneur since 1967, and the notion of substituting entrepreneurship for education is about like saying if the kid can't drive a car, give him an airplane. If he can't pass in med school, urge him to start a hospital. It's just another absurdity to make people who can't (or won't) knuckle-down in school believe that it is OK to spend the rest of their lives uneducated.

Forget the value of education towards one's career. Just zero-in on education for the sake of being educated. Being able to read and write and comprehend and analyze. And how to draw on stored knowledge and communicate with reasonable command of a language. And add and subtract and figure out what X is in an equation.

The last thing we need is a few million more uneducated anythings.

John Malmo is a Memphis marketing consultant with more than fifty years experience. He is former chairman of Archer Malmo Advertising and specializes today in helping small businesses grow. To reach Mr. Malmo - or to buy a copy of his book When on the Mountain There is no Tiger, Monkey Is King- go to http://www.johnmalmo.com.