Fifth-graders get an early introduction to business basics

By RACHEL KONRAD Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Like any ambitious entrepreneur, Amy Lee has created a global marketing plan, approved the product manufacturing specifications and memorized a business pitch to venture capitalists. "I'm nervous, but I think I can get people to invest," said the president and founder of Friends Forever Bracelet Inc., a jewellery retailer that plans a major Internet advertising campaign in China.
After a brief conversation with investors, she walked away with $32 in fake currency — no treasure for a Silicon Valley executive, but a proud fortune for an 11-year-old girl. Amy is a fifth grader at San Francisco's Jean Parker Elementary School, where she's enrolled in a month-long crash course in the fundamentals of business administration. The students learn new words like "revenue" and "prototype," meet venture capitalists and executives, and even tour the glass offices of San Francisco's financial district.
Jean Parker, for example, is on the edge of San Francisco's Chinatown and many students are the children of first-generation Asian immigrants. Advocates say the initiative gets students thinking about entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and other real-world jobs, expanding their options beyond firefighters, veterinarians and other typical fifth-grade career picks. Proponents — including millionaire backers from the tech industry — want every school in America to teach business basics.
"Business curriculum engages students in learning much more than the basic '2-plus-2-is-4' system, and it gives them a way to connect to their education," said Gerald Richards, executive director for the Bay Area Office of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.The group sponsors its own business school-style programs for students ages 11 through 18 in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
Celia Magtoto, a teacher at Jean Parker, said the program gets her 30 fifth-graders thinking about careers far different from those of their parents, many of whom work blue-collar jobs. Magtoto initially was concerned that a program promoting business culture could marginalize aspiring musicians, painters and other kids interested in noncorporate careers. But she said she quickly realized that the kids — who have music, art and other classes — rarely glimpse the business world. The program turns some of her shyest wallflowers into straight-talking ramrods. "I see kids who normally wouldn't talk to their peers suddenly pitching their company to adults they don't even know — that's great for self-esteem," Magtoto said. "And it's great for them to see that there are adults out there who really care and really listen to them."