Can Entrepreneurial Skills Be Taught In The Classroom?

 Can entrepreneurial skills be taught in the classroom?

Interesting question!!! Nigerian government has invested fabulously in trying to develop entrepreneurial skills among university students. Moreover, a lot of programmes have been initiated by the government to encourage Nigerian youth to engage themselves in entrepreneurship after graduation. That notwithstanding, there are still many questions that are seeking for answers. As a tutor that has taught entrepreneurship in polytechnic and university for more than a decade, I still doubt the impact of our teaching methods. Or are we deceiving ourselves? Or are we looking for cheap money through those entrepreneurial programmes? Or are we ignorant? How can a business student finish his/her four year programme in the university, without engaging him/herself in business activities for at least a year? There are still many more questions. Can you learn how to ride a bicycle by reading a text book? Nop!! The fact is that the rich wants to remain rich, while the poor remain poor. The rich control the world economy via educational system, the banks, governments, and financial markets. Arguably, education curriculum was design to meet their needs and not necessarily the needs of the students. The curriculum teaches you how to be a good employee not an entrepreneur.

As Mr. Gatto said, “The school system was not designed to teach children to think for themselves. Nor was it developed to just support the present-day notion that we can all be free. In actuality, our current school system is based on a Prussian model that was developed to do just the opposite—to teach children to obey orders and do as they’re told. Compliant and obedient students become employees who are content to work for the rich or become soldiers who sacrifice their lives to protect the wealth of the rich.”

However, if you want to be free, if you want to become an entrepreneur you have to go through Apprenticeship by developing Deep Observation of your environment, Acquiring Skills, and then Experimenting them as well as; 

1. Value learning over money- You must value learning above everything else. 

2. Keep expanding your horizons- You must struggle against any limitations and continually work to expand your horizons. 

3. Revert to a feeling of inferiority- This sense of inferiority gives you a hunger to learn. 

4. Trust the process- When it comes to entrepreneurial skill, time is the magic ingredient. 

5. Move toward resistance and pain- To become an entrepreneur, you must adopt Resistance Practice. You must go in the opposite direction of all of your natural tendencies.

6. Apprentice yourself in failure- Your failures permit you to see the flaws of your ideas. You re-learn what your customers really want.

7. Combine the “how" and the “what”- You must study as deeply as possible the technology you use, the functioning of the group you work with, the economics of your field, its lifeblood. 

8. Advance through trial and error- You have to learn as many skills as possible, following the direction that circumstances lead you to. You are not sure where this will all lead, but you are taking full advantage of the openness of information, all of the knowledge about skills now at your disposal. 

Almost everything that happens to you is in your hands. Your destiny is very much up to you. Your future is largely determined by yourself, by your own choices and decisions. What you achieve is the result of what you do, or fail to do, day by day and year by year.

Don’t forget to enjoy or accept your present moment and be happy!!!

Dr. Ezeh