The eduFire Blog

There’s a phrase I’ve been using a lot.

Entpreneurial Education

It’s crazy because I just Googled “entrepreneurial education” and the only hits that came up were for education for entrepreneurs. Which is decidely different from what I’ve been using the phrase to refer to.

Here’s what I mean by Entrepreneurial Education:

1. Entrepreneurial Education refers to systems for education and learning that are market-based. In other words, there is a marketplace for buyers and sellers and a clearinghouse for pricing similar to what we see in all sorts of other markets (e.g., financial trading, eBay, etc.). This is very different from how traditional education currently works.

2. Entrepreneurial Education refers to an environment in which the top 1% of all performers (i.e. teachers, tutors, etc.) are in the top 1% of all earners financially. Many industries work this way (e.g., law, medicine, sports, entertainment). Top 1% educators often struggle to make a salary of even six figures…let alone seven figures.

3. Entrepreneurial Education refers to opportunities for scale similar to other industries. Top performers in other industries reach thousands or millions of people with their “content.” Top performers in education often reach only hundreds or dozens of people each year. In a world of Entrepreneurial Education that is ludicrous.

4. Entrepreneurial Education is largely free of constraints and bureaucracy. Although the traditional world of education doesn’t necessarily preclude Entrepreneurial Education the politics and traditional hierarchies make true Entrepreneurial Education. Even charter schools are not immune from this (witness this insane story from Michael Strong as evidence of this).

5. Entrepreneurial Education is unlike anything you’ve seen before. It is the fundamental shaking up of an industry that has been asleep for way too long (see Marty Siegel for more here). It is a market for expertise that creates its own ecosystem and survives not by trying to play the game better but by changing the rules by which the game is played.

Entrepreneurial Education is coming. Stay tuned to this blog for more details.