One lesson that students enjoy is when we connect structural integrity to personal integrity. Students worked in groups or individually to make creative examples to demonstrate the connection between what they made and what they are teaching.
Social Business Project
While teaching leadership, I found this story in “The 8th Habit” by Stephen Covey about Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Dr. Yunus was an economics professor in Bangladesh in the 1970’s. He discovered that the principles he had learned in the US did not apply to the poverty-stricken area where he was teaching at the time. When he would leave at the end of the day, he would see people starving on the streets and wanted to help. The short version of that story is that he took one of his students to visit these people. They met a woman who worked hard to make stools out of bamboo. It would cost her $0.25 for the bamboo to make the stool. But her supplier would make her sell them back to him for $0.27. She made a profit of $.02. They went around the village to see how many other people were in similar situations and discovered that ALL of the people in that village could get on their feet with an investment of $27 total. He gave it to them as a loan, and they all paid him back. The people he helped began to flourish. Dr. Yunnus sought help for the people from their local banks. They would not invest in the poor because they refused to believe they were credible. Failing to attain funding for these businesses from regular banks, he started his own, the Grameen Bank, which specialized in these tiny loans. He did not stop there. He continued to look for the needs of his community. He started a number of “social businesses”. These are businesses that have the goal of solving a problem rather than making a profit. However, they were meant to be self-sustaining.
This story illustrated how finding our voice is using our talents and passions to solve a need, and in so doing, inspire others to find their voice as well. We had a great discussion concerning this subject in class. We decided to make a small version of our own “social businesses”. Below is a template of the write-up that the students filled out during the planning period. They made business plans and proposals. They would then share their plans with each other to recruit others to their project. They had a choice to stick with their own business or work for someone else. Once they had their “companies,” they would work on a proposal for the administration and try to turn it into a service opportunity. They did not turn into true Social Businesses, but they inspired students to look for ways to serve in their community. I had students make beanies meant for cancer patients, and others make blankets for newborns. Many ideas would get stuck as we tried to get them passed through the admin. This was a great oppotunity to teach how to deal with a failed proposal. It was an amazing project that allowed more autonomy for students.