Entrepreneurship Education

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in the number of entrepreneurship education programs in this country. In this comprehensive volume, 18 contributors survey and report on the latest developments in entrepreneurship education at the elementary, secondary, and university levels. The contributors explore what works and what doesn't, suggest ways to improve current programs, and propose solutions for areas not adequately covered by existing programs. The contributors conclude that many traditional models of entrepreneurship education must be discarded if it is to be effective in the years to come. In particular, they argue that entrepreneurship cannot be taught--as it often is now--in non-entrepreneurial settings by teachers who are not themselves entrepreneurial. They demonstrate that such highly structured programs which minimize student involvement and creativity will fail to produce the entrepreneurs of the future. Thus they issue a call to educators nationwide to recognize the unique characteristics and contributions of entrepreneurs and to reorganize themselves to accommodate, cultivate, and perpetuate the process of entrepreneurship.

The book begins with a discussion of the essential features of entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurship and education interface with each other. The contributors go on to discuss entrepreneurship on college campuses. They show how the entrepreneurship curriculum in schools of business has evolved from a course in small business management to full-blown programs in entrepreneurial studies and consider how programs should be designed for non-traditional students--potential and practicing entrepreneurs not currently in college. The contributors also look at how entrepreneurship can be integrated into a variety of secondary school courses in social studies as well as those in business and vocational education programs. They highlight new directions in vocational entrepreneurship education and look at the special problems involved in entrepreneurship education for the urban and at-risk student. Finally, the contributors address entrepreneurship education at the elementary level. Arguing that most young children are quite entrepreneurial in nature but lose that characteristic by the time they reach high school, the contributors discuss what can be done to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive through the elementary grades.

CALVIN A. KENT is Herman W. Lay Professor of Private Enterprise and Director of the Center for Private Enterprise and the National Center for Entrepreneurship in Economics Education at Baylor University. He is the founder of seven businesses and has served on President Reagan's Task Force on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Education. His recent books include Entrepreneurship and the Privatizing of Government (Quorum, 1987).