The fund isn’t meant to be an investment as much as it is meant to stash away some money so that recent graduates will have access to start-up capital without having to (a) sell the rights away to their business or (b) mortgage their livelihood and risk early career bankruptcy. Most start-up businesses fail, but most successful entrepreneurs learn from that failure and use it as a stepping stone to something bigger and better. This VC fund is to help students take the risk to start something they believe in.
What the VC Fund isn’t.
July 4th, 2006 by dahan5Financing of the VC fund
May 30th, 2006 by dahan5Let’s do some preliminary math on how the venture fund would work:
- Each year, there will be 400 students who each are contributing $5,000 directly to this fund or $2 million.
- For kid’s who entered in grade 9, this would be a total contribution of $20,000 per student.
- Four years later, after they graduate from college, they will be eligible to apply (by writing a business plan) for a venture capital funding of up to $20,000 based upon their grades in college.
- For instance, students with a B average or better get access to all $20,000; C average get access to $15,000; D average get access to $10,000; zero funding if you fail out of college.
- Also, there should be a teacher committee responsible for reading the student’s business plan, giving feedback, and then adjusting the amount of the funding by no more than 10% based on the quality of the business plan and the soundness of the idea. So, this committee can authorize funding of this project of no more than $22,000 and no less than $18,000 for a student who has a B average or higher from college. The purpose is to give the incentive to the student to write a quality business plan in order to gain access to the whole $22,000.
- Obviously, this $20,000 should be adjusted downward for those who entered the school after grade 9 since they did not contribute the entire $20,000. That is, those entering in 10th grade would be eligible for only $15,000; those entering in 11th grade $10,000; those entering in 12th grade only $5,000.
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Concept: start-up capital for the students upon graduation from college
May 30th, 2006 by dahan5Each student’s yearly tuition directly contributes $5,000 in per year into aÂfund. He/she gets a benefit (i.e., venture funding) based upon graduation, grades, and Business Plan. Somewhat similar to a defined benefit plan. However, this fund needs to be independent of school, similar to an endowment or insurance reserves or a pension plan’s investments, so that the school can not touch this money for its own benefit. We would need to solicit a veteran venture capitalist to help structure the fund and its operation.
Monopoly Day
May 30th, 2006 by dahan5I always thought the game of Monopoly was more than just a game. Can it be used as a teaching tool?
What if the last day of each school year, everyone plays a game of monopoly in which each student starts off with monopoly money based upon grades from the year.
The purpose is to have students with the better grades start off with an advantage over those with lower grades. HOWEVER, as the game progresses, the winner would be the one who makes the best decisions. In each grade, the rules and situations should be upgraded to more accurately reflect real-world concepts such as government intervention (legislation & taxation), money supply, venture capitalists, etc.
The goals would be to teach the following:
- those with lower grades start off with a disadvantage than those with higher grades;
- the higher grade kids can still lose by making poor decisions throughout the game (or simply having bad luck);
- as the game is “upgraded”, kids learn the affects of the new real-world concepts such as taxation, money supply manipulation, etc.
Radio Station
May 30th, 2006 by dahan5Students are responsible for content, operation, and advertising dollars (parents, local companies, etc.) Not only would it be a functioning business, it would also be a way for school to announce information to students such as school closings, grade-related information, etc. Parents can listen in and keep in touch with what the school is doing.
Successful Charter Schools
May 24th, 2006 by dahan5Here’s a link to a guide of Successful Charter Schools. The description is as follows:
Elements of effective charter schools and stories of eight successful charter schools are presented in this report, the third in the US Department of Education’s Innovations in Education series.
This guide will be very helpful as I plan to focus on the formation of a draft of an actual cirriculum.
9th Grade
May 24th, 2006 by dahan5Reading & Writing
Advanced Math & Algebra
Science: Biology
History: World
Literature: Classical
Health & Fitness
Logic & Reasoning
George Orwell
10th Grade
May 24th, 2006 by dahan5Geometry & Trigonometry
Science: Chemistry
History: U.S.
Capitalism: Economic History (Making of Modern Economics)
Literature: Classical
Ayn Rand
11th Grade
May 24th, 2006 by dahan5Calculus
Science: Physics
History: Economic
Capitalism: Basic Accounting & Finance
Computers & Engineering
Government
Literature: Selected Biographies
Capitalism: George Reisman
12th Grade
May 24th, 2006 by dahan5Human Action: Ludwig von Mises
Capitalism: Marketing & Writing a Business Plan
Literature: Origins of Liberty – Founding Fathers (Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Payne, Hamilton, etc). Founding Documents (Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rites, Constitution)
College Preparatory – Individualized preparation for what to expect when you get to college. To ensure advanced knowledge of what to expect next 4 years (study habits, study materials, etc.) Create personal 4 year goal plan for college.