Educating the present, developing the future…
The currency of the past, present and future is, and always will be, people. Educated people who are willing, able, and naturally talented are sought after by every firm and organization. With the right people at the wheel human endeavors have a striking tendency to work themselves out no matter the circumstances. We have an abundance of people in the world; so, why do we lack the right people for rapid progress?
Most developed and some developing countries have created infrastructure and educational capabilities that foster development of their gifted two-percentile young. These children are the thinkers, doers and leaders of the future. They are the elite. Every country has them. The best nurture them. The worst despise and fear them. However, many just ignore them.
There is no principal difference between the potential of a human being in one country and the next. Given the necessary education, environment and opportunity a naturally gifted child in an underdeveloped country will excel to prosperity and greatness just as easily as a naturally gifted native of the west.
There is always a short supplied of these two-percentile people, but many developing countries lack the capability to identify them, let alone foster them. Internally in developed countries there is extreme competition to attract the two-percentiles. This is exemplified by the current Indian export of high-tech labor to the west. In short, the developing world is not producing enough brilliant people – they are undersupplied!
Some developing countries, such as India and China, are taking their educational system seriously, but there is still a huge untapped potential of gifted people in countries that lack the needed educational infrastructure to identify and develop the talented young. In effect, there exists a huge supply of gifted people who given the opportunity and investments needed can fill the undersupplied high-end labor market of the west.
The Lost Elite School Structure
My proposal is to establish a for-profit business that aims to identify, foster and educate the two-percentile gifted children of underdeveloped countries. The identification process includes a joint venture with a philanthropic organization which has the general goal of supplying primary education to all children of underdeveloped countries. This organization will run open schools where any child in the region can get a limited primary education. From these schools the for-profit business selects potential students and offer enrollment to an elite program that foster their abilities and goes beyond the limited primary education of the philanthropic organization. At legal age the students are presented with both university and job opportunities provided they enter a binding contract. The contract includes a student loan financing their last year of High School and their University education. Furthermore the contract binds them, for a stipulated time, to work at one of our partner companies. For each year a graduate of our schools works at a partner company the for-profit business get a commission.
The for-profit part of this venture will aim to get initial investment funding through company partners, venture firms, for-profit philanthropic venture firms and the general investment community. The philanthropic part of the venture gets funded by NGO’s, economic development organizations such as WTO, government investments and private philanthropic funds. Eventually money will also be funneled from the for-profit venture to the philanthropic venture as a self reinforcing mechanism. Additionally, it isn’t a farfetched possibility that the partner companies, under their social responsibility umbrella, choose give charity to the philanthropic venture in order to support the whole endeavor.
When all is said about the great economic potential there are some extremely important factors that must be stressed. The curriculum and fostering program must be specially tailored to provide a moral and social context that helps integration in to the global social and business scene. We are talking about creating real people with depth and dignity. Businesses are not looking for automatons, but creative and intelligent people able to work in teams, lead and be led. Therefore our business goals and education goals must reflect this essential part of the labor demand and human dignity.
Because of returning elite graduates and funding of primary education we are helping the poorest people of the world rise to their feet. Also, on a more personal level we are offering individual children and families the opportunity to break free from the socioeconomics shackles that arbitrarily were imposed on them at birth.