Thursday, October 7, 2010

How Public Schools in America KILL the Entrepreneurial Spirit

"Yeah, so the assistant principle called this morning."
"Why?"
"Well, he had a lock on his locker at school."
"Okay."
"Locks aren't allowed."
"So, you can't lock anything in your locker?"
"Right."

But why did the child in my family feel it necessary to place a lock on his locker?
Because, the little visionary had two vitally important commodities in there!

(1) Money!
(2) Merchandise!

Unlike most kids, when this nine year old came across several trinkets Entrepreneur Chick had left over from her company- bouncy balls, balloons, pencils- that sort of thing- rather than just think himself lucky for the score- this kid saw an opportunity.

The opportunity?
He correctly surmised that these were some pretty valuable items out on the playground.
He then becomes an informal sales representative for whatever doo dad he can get his hands on!

Sure, he starts with my stash, but he quickly learns how to re-invest his earnings and buy more assets.
He also learns how to invest in assets and up charge, making the deferential, which in turn, gives you the profit; giving you the cash flow.

Cash flow is king and does he ever know it.

Apparently he's paying attention when I've been teaching him about business.

I also teach him, "You don't start anything with anyone. BUT if someone starts something with you- you make sure you finish it. Got me, kid?"

But now, he finds himself in hot water with the school.

No locks on the locker- that I can understand.
But to tell the kid he can't sell at school?
Excuse me?

I have a little time on my hands before I start to rock and roll again.
(Gotta get the d-i-v-o-r-c-e.)
So, you know, a little skirmish with the school sounds like something I might be interested.
Also sounds like something the American Civil Liberties Union would be interested.

Let's get this straight:

A nine year old can not sell anything on the playground BUT it is perfectly okay for the same kid and the entire student body population, to dutifully take catalogs home to parents, parent's co-workers, cousins, aunts, uncles, ex wives, etc. and any one who can generally fog a mirror- to the end that the school may be subsidised- because we know for sure that property taxes, federal funding, bonds, and even the lottery
ain't cuttin' it!

Oh, thou wonderful child! Sell for thy state.
Oh, thou evil child! Sell not for thy self.

9 comments:

  1. As if this wasn't an excellent, witty, and informative post as usual (and quite an entertaining story to boot! That kid's on fire!), you ended it with Pink Floyd.

    Epic win.

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  2. I love this kid!

    I hate the catalog crap that the schools push onto the kids to peddle for them. Not only do the parents end up either buying all the junk or selling it for their kids, they really don't bring in that much profit for the school. There are fundraisers that have a much bigger return for the effort.

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  3. Postie,

    You are quite coming into yourself as well with all your epic wins, Mr. Pilot!

    (I KNEW you'd like the Pink Floyd.)

    EC

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  4. Becky,

    Right? Know whatcha mean, jelly bean.

    EC

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  5. Everything (except smoking, drugs and other such negative actions)that a child learns can do him only good in life. I mean things like languages, sports, business etc.. So I'm with you on this entrepeneur thing of the nine year old in your family.

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  6. Thought-provoking post!

    It's disturbing that we live in a society that no longer allows locks on school lockers.

    It's also disturbing that schools make kids sell candy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Duta,
    Yeah, I agree. I have not really had time to pursue this as I'd like to- but we will look into it further.

    EC

    ReplyDelete
  8. Polly,

    Thank you! And they sell Christmas wrap, cookie dough, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The blog posted is very interesting from all aspects and it will surely benefit the readers by all means.
    schools in vadodara

    ReplyDelete