New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

College – Overrated and Overpriced?

Now mainstream folks are asking the same questions that we've been asking for the last ten years.

John Stossel - January 28th, 2009, wrote an article entitled "The College Scam," calling college the most overrated, overpriced product on the market today. He referenced some recent survey asking college grads if they would have done it again — 40% said "No."

As far as the old "you'll earn a million dollars more if you have a BS degree" sales pitch goes, these skeptics insist it's a false cause fallacy. Many successful college grads would have done even better if they had not attended college, they say.

Brick and Mortar is History

With the changing economy, we are already seeing radical transformation in higher education, and there is no question in my mind that the conventional brick-and-mortar approach will continue to fade away. Economic shake-ups tend to force us to ask the obvious questions: Is it worth it to rack up $80,000 in college debts for a 20% chance of a $32K a year job in a volatile economy, where the term "corporate security" is getting pretty oxymoronish?

So what am I going to do with my son Daniel – a 17-year-old budding businessman? He needs an education. By the time he's 23, I expect him to be far beyond the average "college graduate," in his business savvy, his communication abilities, his grasp of history and its impact upon his life's decisions, his leadership potential, etc. But we're not planning on a 4-year-college.

Here's what I am looking for:

1. Multiple classes that provide heavy concentration of knowledge provided in a 3 day, 1 week, or 2 week seminars, interspersed into five years of work experience.
2. More self-study – it's far cheaper, although it does require self-discipline.
3. Five years of work experience, mentorships, and opportunities to apply the knowledge he absorbs in these seminars. Unfortunately, four years of college is too much separation between knowledge and life application. The disconnect is just too sharp for me. We have got to find better ways to integrate knowledge and life application.
4. Ongoing discipleship by people who care about his faith and character. This means he gains spiritual maturity by daily worship, daily teaching from Christian teachers and thinkers, and the development of a Christian form of thought and expression.
5. This arrangement must prepare my son for life – spiritually and economically. Instead of being $80,000 into college debts, I would like my son to have a home paid in full at 23 years of age, and his dominion work established, such that he is ready to get married and form his own oikonomia (family economy).

Step 1

So I get an e-mail from my good friend Wade Myers – founder of the Venture Academy - who has developed his first week-long Intensive Entrepreneurial Seminar based on his years of experience as venture capitalist, 5X CEO, business owner, and graduate of Harvard's MBA program. Wade doesn't think that my son should waste his time and money at Harvard Business School. He's got a better model, and I'm intrigued.

Long story short, my son is signed up to attend this weeklong, intensive Basic Entrepreneurial Training Class, scheduled for March 23 — 28, 2009 in Fairview, Tennessee. The training curriculum includes lectures, Harvard Business School case studies, and workshops on various topics including: sales, marketing, accounting, finance, business law, human resources, business planning, business communications, operations, technology and customer service.

For more information on this seminar, you need to check out newventurelab.com.

Also, you’ll need to listen to my interview with Wade, airing on Monday.

IF WE'RE GOING TO RECONSTRUCT SOME KIND OF A WORKABLE ECONOMIC SYSTEM FOR OUR CHILDREN, IT'S TIME TO THINK OUT OF THE BOX, FOLKS!

I'm sure there will be hundreds, if not thousands of alternative solutions to the present crisis in education and economics, in the next twenty years. Of course, not all of them will be of equal merit. But may God give us, parents and children alike, wisdom as we begin to reconfigure the philosophy and methodology in K-12 and college education in the years to come. WE WILL NEED IT!

Source: Kevin Swanson's blog