When it comes to business education and equipping students with the basics of being an employee, I’d give most schools a grade of C. Some schools might receive a C+ or B, others a C- or D. Naturally, a few might gets A’s while some would get F’s.

The point is that schools in America do a barely acceptable job of teaching kids to be fully engaged employees. The problem? We need them to crank out entrepreneurs, too. Sadly, when it comes to teaching kids to be entrepreneurs, I’d say the grades for most schools’ efforts are even worse.

There’s a real dilemma here, because the need for responsive entrepreneurship isn’t slowing down. If John Sullivan’s and Aleksandr Shkolnikov’s article The Ever-changing Global Economy in the International Business Times has any merit, the economic power centers in the world are shifting. This would indicate that we’ll be needing a lot of rapidly responsive entrepreneurs that recognize and capitalize on opportunities as they arise if we’re to stay competitive.

So let me draw your attention to an organization that’s been creating entrepreneurs for a long time, and they’ve had a lot of success doing it. I’m talking about Junior Achievement.

I don’t want to take away from organizations like the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Presidential Classroom, or any of the many regional programs. They’re all worthy. It’s just that the depth and breadth of Junior Achievement has created a lot of impact over the years, and I like that they’ve maintained a grass roots feel.

Now active in eleven countries, this organization does an outstanding job at equipping kids with tools and a mindset to understand what it means to be a businessperson.

If you want to read some cool things about Junior Achievement, their website is www.ja.org. There’s a lot to see on that site as they lay it all out for kids to access 24/7, whether they’re enrolled in the programs or not.

While you’re there, I encourage you to stop by the student center. This resource is phenomenal. In fact, students have access to many business tools on this site that ought to be at the fingertips of every business owner on the face of the planet, but aren’t.

It’s obvious that these organizations are teaching kids to look at running a business with a very comprehensive, critical-thinking perspective. We need to support them for reaching out to the next generation to create our future entrepreneurs.

Obviously, these organizations can’t teach everything about business operations, but as far as I’m concerned, for teaching kids to think and act like successful entrepreneurs, these organizations certainly deserve an “A”.

By the way, if you’d like to volunteer your expertise or provide scholarship assistance for Junior Achievement, just visit www.ja.org and look up the office nearest you. Or - look up any of the other organizations teaching entreprenurial skills. It would be a good investment in the future.

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