Michael Malone has an interesting op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. Malone describes cybespace as our next frontier and argues that it is making the rising generation more individualistic than their parents. This statistic stood out, in particular:
Half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job. Today, 80% of the colleges and universities in the U.S. now offer courses on entrepreneurship; 60% of Gen Y business owners consider themselves to be serial entrepreneurs, according to Inc. magazine. Tellingly, 18 to 24-year-olds are starting companies at a faster rate than 35 to 44-year-olds. And 70% of today’s high schoolers intend to start their own companies, according to a Gallup poll.
Here we find hope for liberty in America’s future. Now if only we could get our political class and universities to support entrepreneurship rather than collectivism. . . .
I wonder how this correlates to the statistics that we read about on here last fall about more women going to colleges than men? How many of those 18-24 year olds are male?
That Susan Pinker book on gender differences, mentioned below and which I merely looked into, (since I am otherwise busy,) would suggest that the female need for security might make employment seem a better option than entrepreneurship. Mind, I am only wondering. Does anyone know?