When the Best Class is the College Community

The question of the Wall Street Journal feature on Monday, March 19, was, "Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?"  The debate featured a professor from the Harvard Business School (he thought it could be taught) and a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who thought it could not be taught. Since I have been an successful entrepreneur and taught the subject as an adjunct some years ago, I thought both writers scored points. The truth lies somewhere between: you need knowledge to be successful, but you also need an undefined passion and drive that can't be taught.

A comment made by the venture capitalist, Victor W. Hwang, under the heading, "The Best Class is Real Life," made me think of the students I work with at the school. Hwang spoke of working with entrepreneurs, "We should come up with ways to help entrepreneurs help themselves to learn more effectively. This means finding ways to provide them with a network of mentors and advisers and nurturing a business culture around them that says: dream big, open doors and listen to new people, trust and be trusted, experiment, make mistakes, treat others fairly and pay it forward."

Wouldn't it be great if education could consistently do the same with students: surround them with mentors, encourage them to dream big, and preach the virtue of paying it forward? Sure, some of our students are fortunate to fall into a situation where this kind of support is in place, but for most the support needs to come from within, just as it does with entrepreneurs. Both groups benefit from social groups that support and sustain their dreams. Hwang advocates supportive communities for entrepreneurs; in college, instructors, organizations, and fellow students take those roles. In fact, the design of a college community surrounds its students with levels of support that can be ideas exchanged over coffee in the Daily Buzz, or an instructor-initiated evaluation of a semester-long project.

Initiative and drive can't be taught in the classroom, but it can be supported and nurtured.