An entrepreneur, in my view, isn’t just a founder of a for-profit business. An entrepreneur is someone who comes up with an idea and turns it into something real, who translates a passion into a project.
The new competency-based curriculum, which a 49-member task force is reviewing, is geared towards raising problem solvers and not just jobseekers. The job-seeking mentality has given college graduates cut-throat competition in all sectors.
The CBC's Key Inquiry Questions are all about teaching learners to be bold enough to try new things. Here are four things that make the CBC the game changer:
One, it teaches learners to always be curious and never fearful.
Sometimes, this means letting children break the rules. Tania Yuki is the founder and CEO of Shareablee, a company that analyses the impact of businesses' social media platforms. Tania developed her fearlessness and willingness to experiment when she was just four years old.
She recalls shopping with her father at a luxury gift store. Despite the 'NO TOUCHING' sign, she touched nearly everything. A sales clerk saw and snatched something out of her hand. For a minute, Tania thought she was in trouble. But her dad stepped in and said, “She’s just curious. If she breaks anything, I’ll pay for it!”
“At that moment, I knew my parents would always trust me,” Tania said. “They never had any reason to discourage anything I was curious about. I never felt I would suffer consequences for being curious.”
That is the beauty of CBC.
Two, CBC is giving children independence at a very, very young age.
The parents I have talked to all agreed. The sooner children are given big responsibilities, the more confident and independent they will become in future. CBC is raising a bold generation of confident learners. A confident learner is a natural winner. Assertive learners are not prone to bullying.
Michael Skolnik is the founding partner of The Soze Agency, a company that creates corporate campaigns. He developed his love for theatre at age 14, and wrote letters to 50 Broadway producers asking to be an intern. He got one yes, from Blue Man Group, based in New York City.
His parents worked full-time and couldn’t drive him from their home in Westchester county to NYC every day; but they had friends with an empty apartment in the city, so they let him live there by himself that summer.
“I don’t know if that much freedom and independence at such a young age would work for everyone, but it did for me,” Michael said. “Their trust in me let me mature a lot earlier than my peers.”
CBC is a game-changer. Grade 6 learners are exuding more confidence than the Std 8 KCPE candidates. They are not feeling subdued by looming national exams. They are sassy, assertive and bubbling with life and energy.
Three, CBC does not allow parents to pick their children's passions.
It’s not always easy to trust in outcomes we cannot yet see. But CBC parents should trust their children to make choices about how they want to spend their time after school. They should not interfere with their career paths.
Eric Ryan is the co-founder of Method Products, a $100 million company that makes cleaning products. Growing up, Eric's passion was sailing.
“I wasn’t a good student, but I loved sailing and worked hard at that. I sailed competitively from fourth grade through college,” he said. “My dad was always there to support me at regattas, even though he didn’t know anything about sailing.”
Likewise, CBC learners must be given the latitude to choose a passion that their parents might not have picked for them, one the parents don't know anything about.
Eric's mum asserts: “My husband and I had a list of things we wanted Eric to know how to do — ski, ice skate — but then he chose what he was interested in.”
Similarly, CBC encourages children to explore as they discover their God-given talents. Learning should not be caged in a specific way.
Four, CBC enables learners to share their own struggles with parents.
Many people think that successful adults had things easy as kids. But oftentimes, people become successful because they learned how to deal with failure. The CBC's parental engagement aspect is where the rubber meets the tarmac in parenting and learning.
Paige Mycoskie is one of the richest self-made women in the US, through her clothing brand Aviator Nation. Her mother, Pam, shared that Paige’s resilience came from watching her go through her own struggles.
“I found out I had high cholesterol, and I had to change my diet. I wrote a book with recipes for how to cook with less fat,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about writing a book or about the publishing industry.”
Another parent might have hidden how much she was struggling, not wanting to upset her children. But Pam chose to share her experience with them. Her kids learnt that everyone has to deal with problems—and that, with grit and determination, problems can be tackled head-on.
When our own children see us struggle, they begin to respect our money. As I grew up, I always saw my father struggling financially so I didn't expect much from him. When he paid my school fees, I made sure I made the best out of it.
Chief executive marketer, the National Examinations Hub
