Ask HN: Would you prefer your kids educated for a job, or as an entrepreneur?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16926869

by andrewstuart • 8 years ago

2 14 8 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

It seems many education systems are focused on giving kids the skills to work for someone else - some company.

Presuming you had kids, would you prefer they take the education path to a job/career, or do you see some sort of alternative where they learn how to find and make money on their own by seeking out opportunity in an entrepreneurial manner?

BartBoch2• 8 years ago

imo you cannot teach kids to be business people without proper real-life experience. So send them to regular schools, but create them an environment to be entrepreneurs. Without "working class" experience they will be not good managers and leaders. I think every person, especially one that are from rich families, should work as a sales clerk or similar to get real life experience.

sgeneris4• 8 years ago

Experience is gained on the job, not during education.

BartBoch2• 8 years ago

We have to agree to disagree. Education is a part of the real-life experience. Schools give you a chance to develop socially, work in teams, learn how to succeed. Education is not only books and library, its real life experience as well. For many people first grown-up experience they get.

oldmancoyote2• 8 years ago

The child should make this decision after a well rounded pre-college education.

sgeneris4• 8 years ago

Well rounded education? No such thing anymore.

oldmancoyote2• 8 years ago

Why would you say such a thing? It's simply wrong.

rajacombinator• 8 years ago

I’d prefer my kids educated for life.

muzani• 8 years ago

I think all people have their own personalities, not necessarily a nurture thing. Some people don't have the chaos-loving mindset it takes to be an entrepreneur.

2-3 generations ago, the optimum was working class. This generation it seems to be entrepreneurship. With AI and tech impact in 20 years, it's really hard to see how it would be for the next generation.

slovette• 8 years ago

Academia lays important foundations. Discipline. The meaning of commitment and followthrough. It simulates some important root behaviors that are essential in being successful at all things. At the same time it instills a foundation of basic knowledge. These are the things I find academia important for, not degrees or qualifications.

My boys are young and entrepreneurship is a big word to them, and as of today a highly romanticized false idea by the rest of the world it seems.

I wish for my little boys to grow up knowing the value of knowledge, while maintaining an implicit understanding that their lives are wholly defined by their own ability to see the world as something they can change. There’s literally nothing you can’t do if you can learn it.

I suppose the TLDR: Its not a choice between the two. Ones the foundation, the other is a world view and self belief.

sgeneris4• 8 years ago

You mean when there was still academia. There isn't anymore. It's been replaced with vocational training.

whb07• 8 years ago

Why is it binary ?

sgeneris4• 8 years ago

Education is developing people's intellect and reasoning ability, turning them into members of civilized society. It is not job training.

And the fact that the former has been replaced with the latter shows: the US is no longer a society, let alone a civilized one.

matt_the_bass• 8 years ago

As with most things developmental, I think kids are very much molded by what is modeled for them. Generally this is by parents. If their parents teach them by example to work hard, be considerate of other people, don’t be afraid of trying out new ideas, and that taking educated risks are ok, then likely these kids will develop into someone who could be an entrepreneur. They still need a standard enducation and they still need working experience.

ajeet_dhaliwal• 8 years ago

Out of the two entrepreneur, i wish I’d woken up sooner but didn’t even realize it was an option

Ask HN: Would you prefer your kids educated for a job, or as an entrepreneur?

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