The Power of Making and Doing: Entrepreneurial Education in Action

At a recent event, a panel of legislators, students and educators convened to talk about the power of entrepreneurial education to motivate and empower young people. Those panelists —hosted by moderator J.D. LaRock of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) —were Mary Blackford of Market 7, Robert Dais of GEAR UP Massachusetts, and Marek Laco of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. 

Entrepreneurial education is a type of work-based learning that is simultaneously good for young people, schools and teachers, and the workforce. And it’s precisely that mutual benefit that makes us at ASA so eager to see more of these dynamic learning opportunities created around the country. So, what is it? The event panelists shared their wisdom. 

J.D. explained, entrepreneurship doesn’t necessarily begin in the workplace. It begins with a person and a spark. “Entrepreneurship begins with the learner and what they are passionate about.” When schools and work-based learning programs reorient to help young people find that spark, the results can be astonishing. Entrepreneurial education has the power to turn uninspired and underperforming students into highly motivated achievers who are equipped to find and build solutions to real problems. 

Both Robert and Marek previously worked as teachers and coaches, and emphasized that they often witnessed a disconnect between passion and academic performance. Robert explained that, “I was a math teacher and I saw linebackers who were D students in my math class. What was the difference in intensity, passion, and commitment?”  Marek echoed the sentiment: “I saw young men we would coach in football who were successful and had good traits, but sometimes in the classroom it wasn’t clicking. But I think the power behind entrepreneurial education is the high expectation it places on people. You’re telling them they can start a business. They can identify a problem that other people might not see and even develop a solution to it. They can build a future and tap into what they’re passionate about.” 

From there, Robert explained, skills development can take root and turn a spark into something real. “Then we have to teach people to take those same skills and apply them in different domains of their life…There’s nothing better than seeing a middle school kid come to a NFTE program over the summer who’s thinking, ‘I have no idea what i’m doing here,’ and then watch them do their pitch four weeks later when they’ve come up with a solution in their community and the light bulb goes on.”

Mary, the founder of community marketplace Market 7—herself a graduate of the NFTE program—shared a powerful anecdote of how entrepreneurial education impacted her life: “At 15, I entered the NFTE program and it took me away, literally. They literally took us out of Ward 7 and took us to New York. They showed 30 Black kids from an underserved community that we can really make a difference in our community. They gave us $50, which was a lot of money then, but it was all we needed. I had a business selling baskets, and we learned so much through the program about personal development, soft skills, economics, financial literacy, and what it means to create a solution that’s not only relevant but also equitable and feasible. It sparked in me that I could make change. When someone paid me $30 for a gift basket, I couldn’t believe that something I made was something someone actually wanted and needed, and I could make money, which really helped me at the time.”

It’s clear that entrepreneurial education programs offer a viable means of changing the K-12 system for the better; of engaging more opportunity youth and inspiring them about their place in the future. But, to date, it’s far from the norm. So, how can such programming become a reality for even more young people? Marek shared words of encouragement attesting to the traction entrepreneurial education is gaining in K-12 spaces, and speaking to the need for even more momentum.

“I think there’s a recognition that things are not going well in many areas across the country, by whatever metrics, because students are facing challenges. But we’re starting to hear other folks in K-12 education who weren’t really looking at entrepreneurship before who now are really starting to say, ‘We need to get on board with it,’ and I’m encouraged by that…I think the more we give students the opportunity to engage in entrepreneurial education, they more we’re going to see success in communities. Each of us here has the opportunity to shape that future.”