graduates of public schools these days unfortunately seem to know more about socialism than the free enterprise system. They believe wealth should be shared, but have no clue about how it is created.
But at least one school district in Colorado has put capitalism in the curriculum.
The goal of a year of instruction at three high schools in the Thompson School District in Larimer County — Loveland, Mountain View and Thompson Valley — is to teach kids how to use ingenuity to become budding tycoons.
It is called the business incubator class.
According to Jeri Crispe, director of secondary education, instruction is provided in finance, marketing, website development, business ethics and how to create a business plan to attract investors.
Students are divided into teams and are encouraged to develop a new product or service that possibly can attract investors and eventually be introduced into the marketplace.
“The kids are asked to identify a problem they can provide a solution to,” said Misti Juergenson, a teacher at Mountain View.
A key milestone in the past year’s efforts came May 11 with the staging of “Pitch Night” at Thompson Valley.
Eleven teams presented their ideas and plans to a team of judges in hopes of securing some private funding to keep their dream alive. A wide-range of inventions was presented — from the Bill Gates-esque to the Rube Goldberg-ish.
My favorite was a simple idea to market a peanut butter jar with two lids, one on each end, in order to not waste even one gram of the contents. Another, on a more ambitious scale, was creation of a Wi-Fi system to charge electric cars while they are being driven.
The judges awarded a $1,000 prize for development to the team that hopes to market a wristwatch that can send out a piercing alarm signal if the wearer is accosted. Targeted buyers: Young women on college campuses.
One of the great things about the course is the involvement of the local business community. It provides coaches and mentors as well as guest instructors for some of the classroom sessions as well as seed money for development.
Crispe said major contributors include the OtterCare Foundation based in Fort Collins and the Loveland Rotary Club, which has arranged business partnerships. But she stressed that much more private support is needed.
Although the entrepreneurship program is only two years old, Crispe has been gratified by the results. For instance, some of the seniors of last year’s teams have graduated, but have remained in contact so they can keep working to turn their projects into reality.
“Other students have told me the course has prepared them well for business courses in college,” she said.
The entrepreneurship program was developed by the district in Barrington, Ill., and Thompson teachers spent time there before implementing it.
A program proposed by one of last year’s teams to bring commercial food trucks to high schools during lunch hours was recently given a successful trial at Loveland High School.
Of course, such an endeavor could violate all kinds of federal and district rules. But the kids surmounted them and perhaps learned one of the biggest business lessons of all: how to hurdle red tape successfully.
Dick Hilker (dhilker529@ ) is a retired suburban Denver area newspaper editor and columnist.
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