Sir, – I was not surprised to see a negative response to Ibec’s suggestion that teachers should receive entrepreneurial training. If there is one thing (and there really is only one thing) that unites the left in this country it is its persistent demonisation of entrepreneurs and businesses.
While it goes without saying that not everyone is well suited to entrepreneurship, some commentators would have us believe that starting a business is an option available to only the most Machiavellian members of society.
I recently heard an interview with a couple of UK-based entrepreneurs, both of whom are early school leavers who struggled with learning difficulties throughout their lives. There are no doubt thousands of similar people in Ireland today, and they will in all likelihood end up working in menial jobs and, like most of us, be financially dependent on an employer for the rest of their working lives. Rather than fostering students’ creativity and broadening their horizons by instilling them with the confidence to follow through on their own ideas, many would rather perpetuate this status quo.
It is encouraging to see initiatives such as that proposed by Ibec, as well as the great work done by the facilitators at the UCD Innovation Academy (where I was a student), to encourage students to see entrepreneurship as a viable option; this is good for the individuals as well as for society. Besides the jobs and taxes that follow should a business venture be successful, the skills acquired by such training can be applied in other contexts, for example social entrepreneurship and “intrapreneurship” (encouraging innovation within an existing organisation). – Yours, etc,
DAVID McGINN,
Islandbridge,
Dublin 8.