UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN 3rd DISTRICT, NEBRASKA TOM OSBORNE

Washington Round-up | Week of May 9, 2005

Investing in the Future of Our Youth

Over the past few years, I have visited several schools throughout the Third District that are seeing real results from their entrepreneurial programs practiced in the classroom. But students are not the only ones benefiting—the entire community reaps rewards from entrepreneurial programs.

In some schools where an entrepreneurial curriculum is utilized, teachers have worked to engage students in e-commerce. In one notable example, the Santee High School, located on the Santee reservation in northeast Nebraska, has developed an entrepreneurship curriculum to help young people on the reservation learn the business skills necessary to reverse poor economic conditions in the community. In yet another example, the Wolf Den Market in Arthur, Nebraska, -- the only grocery store in the county -- was developed and planned by students from the Arthur County High School. The students and a few key adults in the community researched the viability of opening a grocery store and sought financial assistance to make the idea a reality. In this case, as a result of the students’ ability to learn and sharpen their problem-solving skills in the classroom, Arthur’s residents now have suitable grocery essentials at their convenience.

I am hopeful that more schools will quickly realize the many opportunities entrepreneurship education provides for the future of our youth. Entrepreneurship training can be successfully integrated into traditional coursework and textbook instruction by incorporating hands-on business activities. For example, writing marketing materials, proposals, and business plans can improve English skills; practicing sales and accounting can improve math skills; and developing manufacturing processes for products can be incorporated in a science class. Once successfully integrated into the classroom, entrepreneurship training has a positive effect on students’ overall academic performance.

Furthermore, student entrepreneurship activities work to stimulate the local economy and help to foster youth retention as students learn to build and grow businesses within their communities. As their businesses grow, youth are more likely to stay and invest in a community’s future.

To facilitate the creation of additional projects similar to the ones in Santee and Arthur in schools across Nebraska and across the country, I introduced an amendment in the 108th Congress that would make entrepreneurship education and training an allowable use of Perkins funding. For over forty years, the Perkins program has been one of the largest federal investments in high schools across the country. Most recently, my amendment was included in the Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act, H.R. 366, which passed the House of Representatives on May 4, 2005. Building on the reforms of the Perkins Act of 1998, this measure works to strengthen vocational and technical education programs in states and local communities and improve educational opportunities for our nation’s students.

In Nebraska, vocational education programs such as FFA, FBLA, FCCLA, and many others help Nebraska’s students attain personal growth and gain the leadership and career-building skills that are necessary to succeed in an increasingly technical workforce—whatever their future plans may be.

Specifically, H.R. 366 helps states better utilize federal funds for secondary and postsecondary vocational education programs; improves accountability and emphasizes student achievement; strengthens opportunities for coordination between secondary and postsecondary vocational and technical education, including the creation of model sequences of courses; and enhances professional development for teachers. A summary of the bill can be viewed online at http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/109th/education/voced/billsummary.htm.

As I continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure this bill reaches the President’s desk for his signature, I encourage educators and adults in the Third District to consider the benefits of entrepreneurship education. By investing in entrepreneurship education, we invest in the future of our youth and the future of Nebraska’s economy.