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At Lamplighter Academy in Dallas,
Texas, important lessons are gained as 3rd
and 4th Grade students are tasked to open
and operate a business involving the retail
sale of eggs. This annually equates to stu-
dents finding the chickens, going through
the rituals of animal husbandry, caretaking of
the stock and harvesting, cleaning, packag-
ing and marketing eggs. That marketing may
lead to a 3rd Grader standing near the parent
pick-up area refusing to let cars pass unless
eggs are purchased. Bassett says at the end of
the project, data is collected in the form of
profit and loss assessments, and in the case of
profits, students must then determine how
to invest those profits. This is an exercise that
encourages negotiation between capitalist
and socialist viewpoints, with some wanting
to divvy funds amongst the students while
others advocate for donation to charity. The
students learn about a lot more than selling
eggs.
Bassett also notes that in applying a
global perspective to lessons in entrepre-
neurship or business, independent schools
are also helping student redefine their per-
spective as to what represents value. For ex-
ample, one school system recently brought
in speakers from the nation of Bhutan where
“Gross National Happiness” translates as a
socioeconomic quality of life indicator simi-
lar to the methods assessing the gross nation-
al product.
“Schools are exploring how to create
effective citizens who are fulfilled... just as
business and profit is important, but it’s only
part of a larger picture,” says Bassett.
The bigger picture in terms of cur-
riculum at independent school amounts to
what Bassett calls “a revolution in education”
which not only includes innovative instruc-
tion in science, technology, engineering and
math, but also requires students to collabo-
rate in producing something. Whether it is
a business, a strategy for solving a problem,
a complex robot or an initiative that fulfills
a fundamental need in their respective com-
munities, the idea involves moving beyond
information imparted in a textbook, and ap-
plying that teaching into a workable model.
As Bassett says, “A generation ago, we’d teach
business and kids would fall asleep in class,
but today they’re excited and engaged by cre-
ating a business.
In the model of the schools of the fu-
ture, Bassett refers to certain “C’s” that drive
February 2019 |
Business World Magazine