tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8596859324993881745.post825093914185988763..comments2010-10-29T23:40:48.602-05:00Comments on A Bit Sharp: Remember that presentation I was doing?Heather McCowen, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09987600504516903399noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8596859324993881745.post-34538372831484453822010-10-29T23:40:48.602-05:002010-10-29T23:40:48.602-05:00Your first three items, and a couple of others, ac...Your first three items, and a couple of others, actually sum up into the entrepreneurial-skills category. Any venture capitalist who makes a living deciding which new-business ideas to invest in would say the same.<br /><br />The one item on there that actually I don't particularly agree with is the "business skills" one, since the really relevant aspects of that catch-all are already covered. (The ones I just referenced above.) A performing artist who can think critically, connect with customers and communicate well can do great in the real world without wasting class time on stuff like business administration. There's actually nothing mystical about the actual mechanics of running and enterprise (for-profit or not-for-profit).<br /><br />In place of "business skills" I might list something like "comfort with numbers", which absolutely is a critical core competency in the real world.<br /><br />All that said, if conservatories were teaching the things you describe then they would be, and could convince tuition-paying parents that they were, teaching truly transferable skills. Parents might then respond like the minority parents of aspiring young naturalists do: when they think the proposed summer internship is all about hugging trees, mom and dad roll their eyes and resist. When it's explained that the internship explores all the aspects of the modern professionalized conservation movement -- the lawyering and the marketing and the researching and the administering as well as the field ecology -- they get much more enthused about Junior pursuing that path.Paul Bottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18408795160241389856noreply@blogger.com