Bad News Gets Press

I find it fascinating how fast and often bad news gets press... usually good news and deeds are public service announcements and rarely seen...

Take the news about the Drop Out Factory... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21531704/
People know for a long time that graduation rates are not where they need to be for a long time. We know they are well below where they need to be...

How come the bad news get prime time and we don't see that much what people are doing to resolve that problem? Is it because we don't believe the problem will ever be solved? Is it just human nature? I'd like to see more about what we can do or are doing to solve the problem... I'd like to see more people supporting organizations that are in fact impacting the problem.

Take the Entrepreneurial Course for High School Students from EntrepreneursNOW, a non-profit in CT I've been on the board for a couple of years. The high school graduation rate in the community it is offered is 29%, yes, out 100 kids, only 29 graduate in the capital of one of the richest states in one of the richest countries in the world...

The Entrepreneurial Course is offered to the same population... and the same kids... 50 to 60% complete the 9-week program offered and of the ones completing the program, 100% create and launch a business from scratch. The same kids producing very different results.

Have you ever heard of it? Good news is treated with skepticism....

How can the same students produce such different results?
Do we keep doing research on finding a solution? No.
Do we take action to solve the problem inside of a vision of the future and a way of operating? Yes.

And, yes, we know we cannot solve the whole problem in education alone. But what we found is that we can affect its root cause: Kids are not motivated to learn. They don't see the difference that education will provide them. So we created this course. It puts students at center stage for being successful in school, in business and in life. It is a very rigorous program, open enrollment, and everyone follows the same rules: Students have to attend every session and be on time for all sessions. They learn how to not let life's circumstances (justifiably or not) get in the way of their commitments... The principles are simple but requires students to do things and act in ways that are not easy to do.

Lots of foundations have been doing research on for years on how to solve the education problem... and the problem does not get solved. I wish we wish we have more foundations investing in solving the problem and less in advocacy or research about it. Research and advocacy have their value, but alone will not end the problem.

The Gates Foundation found that most High School kids have no reason in getting into school. Kids do not see how their future will be improved by education. We knew that... that's why we have been using the experience of free enterprise to train students. In the Entrepreneurial Course, kids create a vision for their life and that becomes a context for living that makes getting education worthwhile.

In short 9 weeks, they live inside of that new vision and launch a business, stretching themselves way beyond what they thought they were capable of... in the process they learn that they are responsible for their success and get excited about their future.

Educators and parents see a profound change in attitude and considerable improvement in school work. Once kids are excited about their future, they have a reason to graduate from school. That's the good news...

You can find out more about this revolutionary education at www.entrepreneursNOW.org.