Education a New Generation of Entrepreneurial Leaders

Entrepreneurial Leaders

Education a New Generation

Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world,” said the late Nelson Mandela. What can we do to develop a new generation of empowered and entrepreneurial leaders through our schools? We often pay lip service to ideas such as “21st-century learning” and “entrepreneurial leadership development,” but the reality is that the vast majority of schools are not adequately preparing students to lead and collaborate with others to create positive change in the world. Fortunately, there are shining examples of schools from which we can learn—schools that take responsibility for preparing all of their students to become changemaking leaders.

A continent away, at the Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, N.C., students between the ages of 5 and 18 are exposed to experiential lessons on self-agency, teamwork and collaboration, innovation and execution, resourcefulness, and adaptive persistence while they strive to put their change projects into action.





Yet, even as young people want and expect more, opportunities are elusive. Job growth is not keeping pace with the increase in schools and college graduates. The current state of youth unemployment is equally dramatic in the wake of economic downturn in parts of Europe; youth employment exceeds 50 percent in Greece and Spain.