Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas
Based in Wichita, Kansas, Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable educational organization. Their stated goal is to provide entrepreneurship education to students in middle and high school, inspiring “students to overcome barriers and seize opportunities for the betterment of themselves and others.” Origin. In 1991, Liz and Charles Koch founded Youth Entrepreneurs, originally an eight-week course at a Wichita high school. By 2019, the organization had grown to a presence in over 126 schools throughout the United States. Goals and operations. Youth Entrepreneurs states that their major objective is to provide high school  students, particularly at-risk students, with business and entrepreneurial education and experiences that will help them prosper and become contributing members of society, by focusing primarily on three important objectives: YE cites the following “Foundational Values” as the key to student success: Responsibility, Be Principled, Knowledge, Freedom, Passion, Opportunity, Sound Judgment and Win-Win Focus.” To work towards their goals, the organization now offers year-round high school classes in which students earn high school credits for learning and applying critical thinking skills and principles of free markets and economics that can help students excel in their careers in the  business world, and in their endeavors in higher education. In addition to earning high school credits, by 2010 YE students could begin earning college credits through YE's partnership with institutions of higher learning like Butler Community College, offering students a chance to "get a head start on their college career". As well as getting ahead in a physical sense by earning college credits, students get a head start in thinking about businesses and entrepreneurial thinking through hands-on training, and helps students more confidently dive into the business world. Classes that run through the school year are supplemented by  summer camps, like the one at Dodge City High School in Dodge City, Kansas provide students with an interactive and exciting way to practice business principles, while competing for cash prizes and receiving feedback for presented business ideas. In 2011, YE awarded $100,000 in scholarship money to YE alumni to pursue 4-year degrees. YE also supports alumni through mentorship programs, ensuring that they have a support structure including continuing education and networking to aid them in breaking into the business world. Controversy. The YE program has been criticized for being a platform to disseminate the Koch philosophy. Charles  and his brother David Koch were longtime supporters of the Libertarian Party before becoming Republican kingpins. In 1980 and at the beginning of the Reagan era, the Libertarian platform proposed a drastic revision of the American education system: "We advocate the complete separation of education and state. Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interfere with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation, regulation, and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended." YE High School posters target predominantly poor students with the premise of receiving generous financial incentives including startup capital and scholarships after graduation. YE  classes are disguised as typical high school business courses, taught in public schools by a certified teacher. But they are actually guided by Youth Entrepreneurs, with lesson plans and class materials promoting the Koch Industries free-market Libertarian ideology. Course information includes: The minimum wage hurts workers and slows economic growth. Low taxes and less regulation allow people to prosper. Public assistance harms the poor. Government, in short, is the enemy of liberty. Importance. Analysts recognize entrepreneurship as an essential part of economic development, and is especially necessary in areas like the Midwestern United States that have been hit hardest  by recent economic recession. Education analyst Dr. Steve Wyckoff said of YEK's role in the rehabilitation of the economy of the Midwest, One of the major issues we have in rural America is the shortage of jobs and businesses. If we can find those students across rural America who have a passion that can be applied in a local business, we can grow our own jobs. We're never going to get businesses to move to rural Kansas in sufficient numbers to solve the problem. It's imperative for the survival of rural America that we begin to grow  our own jobs. YEK works in partnership with the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship, another international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing entrepreneurship programs to young people from low-income communities.