Is the U.S. school system conducive to creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem?
"Tell me someone that has ever come out of a four-year degree and then spent five or 10 years in the marketplace and said, ‘They taught me exactly how it was in the real world.’”
That’s the question Freedom Media Network founder Curt Mercadante posed to angel investor John Osborne, managing partner of Good Growth Capital.
“Well maybe I'd ask you this, tell me someone that has ever come out of a four-year degree and then spent five or 10 years in the marketplace and said, ‘They taught me exactly how it was in the real world,’” replied Osborne. “So I mean, I think that there's this disconnect of what is taught in the schooling system that isn't necessarily reflective of what is happening out in the real world outside of that fun little bubble.”
Osborne, one of the driving forces of Charleston, SC's entrepreneurial ecosystem, is also co-founder of The Harbor Entrepreneur Center, executive administrator of Charleston Angel Partners, and founder of the Charleston Angel Conference.
He said that the school system has its place, but, “you're just trying to see if people are capable of learning a subject and if they have the intellectual capability to do so, but then it's a whole other set of dynamics and facts.”
“I mean, business schools that are doing case studies on Ford are not necessarily preparing someone to go start a new business in the technology sector,” he added. “Not that it's wrong, it’s just that's the disconnect that I see.”
You can watch Mercadante’s full discussion with Osborne by clicking here.
Comments