Recently, I attended a First-Generation College Program designed to help channel some of the brightest young minds into higher education. As I often do, I spoke one-on-one with over 40 students and asked a simple question: had anyone ever told them they could also become entrepreneurs? The answer was consistent—and unsurprising. Nearly all of them said no. No one had encouraged them to explore, imagine, or pursue a path where they could be the CEO or founder of their own company. We prepare young people for employment. We should also prepare them for ownership. This is not a criticism of jobs. Jobs matter. Teachers matter. Professionals matter. But if entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful drivers of innovation, economic mobility, and wealth creation, why is it still treated as an elective rather than a foundational life skill? Today, we guide millions of young people toward becoming excellent employees. We spend years teaching them how to earn a paycheck. But how much time do we spend teaching them how to create one? Imagine if every high school graduate understood how to identify problems, validate ideas, build a business model, leverage AI to launch a company, raise capital, and lead a team. How many more innovators would emerge? How many more communities would generate their own opportunities? How many more young people would realize they are capable of building something extraordinary? This is not an argument against employment. It is an argument for expanding possibility. Every young person should graduate knowing they have two legitimate paths: To build someone else’s vision. Or to build one of their own. The future requires both. Yet today, we overwhelmingly prepare for only one. That must change. Not because every student should become an entrepreneur, but because every student deserves the chance to discover whether they could be one. The future is not inherited. It is constructed. Let’s start teaching our young people how to build it.