There is an interesting piece out this week from Robert Samuelson, an opinion writer for the Washington Post, where he questions the value of “Higher Education for All.”
I don’t know if I agree with his entire premise, as there are a range of other factors to contend with when considering what dogs poor and underserved communities (including the not to be under-estimated value of the ‘socialization’ of societies, or having the exposure, education, confidence, communication and presentation skills to deal with the broader world around us), but I do wholly agree with this — we must powerfully reconnect the power of education with the power of aspiration in young people’s lives; be that high school or college. Even more so, as the writer points out, connecting education to JOBS. My friend and partner in the Gallup-HOPE Index, Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup, makes this case better than most in his groundbreaking new book THE COMING JOBS WAR.

This is the principle that is driving our new push here at Operation HOPE, the new HOPE Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and most powerfully our coming HOPE Business In A Box Company, a movement to stoke a spirit of free enterprise, responsible capitalism, small business and entrepreneurship amongst a generation of youth. HOPE Business In A Box, featured last week for the first time in my Huffington Post IMPACT story, is “powered” by the Gallup-HOPE Index and will measure hope, wellbeing, engagement, financial literacy and the level of economic energy of young people 4th grade through 12th grade in America, for the first time ever.

Let’s go….

John Hope Bryant is an entrepreneur, thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), the sole African-American bestselling business author in America, and a Member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for President Barack Obama.

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