What Are We Teaching Students About Work?

Why preparing students for meaningful work is about far more than choosing a career

Author

Stephen Carter
September 22, 2026

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Jordan Raynor, author of The Sacredness of Secular Work and Called to Create. We talked about work, purpose, calling, and what it means to prepare young people not simply for a career, but for a life of meaningful contribution. I’ve been thinking about that conversation ever since, particularly because so much of it connects directly to why I believe entrepreneurship education matters.

Jordan defines work as “to expend energy in an attempt to achieve a desired result.” 

I love the breadth of that definition because it pushes us beyond thinking about work simply as the thing we do for a paycheck. Your job is work, certainly, but so is mowing the yard, doing the dishes, studying for a test, building a business, writing a book, caring for a child, or solving a problem for someone else.

Your job is work, but not all of your work is your job.

That distinction matters when we start talking to students about purpose and calling. We spend a lot of time asking young people what they are going to do with their lives. What career are you going to choose? What are you going to major in? What do you want to be when you grow up? 

Those are worthwhile questions, but they can also unintentionally communicate that somewhere out there is one perfect career students are supposed to discover, and once they find it, then they can begin doing meaningful work.

Years ago, when I read Jordan's Called to Create, I came across the definition of entrepreneurship that has shaped much of our work at Seed Tree Group ever since: an entrepreneur is anyone who takes a risk to create something new for the good of others.

That definition has very little to do with whether a student eventually starts a company. Instead, it gives students a framework for engaging with the world around them. What problems do I notice? What opportunities do I see? What am I good at? What gives me energy? 

This is why I believe entrepreneurship belongs in schools.

Yes, we teach students how to identify opportunities, design solutions, understand customers, build business models, market products, sell, manage money, and even launch real ventures. But underneath all of that is something much bigger.

We are giving students tools to discover how they might contribute. We believe our students have been created with gifts, talents, interests, and opportunities that aren't accidental. Part of helping them think about calling is giving them real opportunities to discover those things, develop them, and then turn them outward in service to others.

That doesn't mean every student needs to become an entrepreneur. But it does mean every student can develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

If work is expending energy toward a desired result, and entrepreneurship is taking a risk to create something new for the good of others, then perhaps one of the most important things we can do for students is help them connect those two ideas.

And they don't have to wait until adulthood to start figuring any of that out. They can start doing the work now.

That is what entrepreneurship education can give our students—not simply the ability to start businesses, but a framework for discovering how they have been uniquely equipped to create, contribute, and serve others through the work they will do in the world.

Interested in bringing this kind of entrepreneurship education to your students?

Standing out as a Christian school while staying true to your values is more challenging than ever. At Seed Tree Group, we help schools implement a proven entrepreneurship program that empowers students to take ownership of their education, equipping them with life-ready skills and creating a distinguished school with engaged students, inspired parents, and energized donors.

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Imagine your culture infused with growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Imagine your team acting and thinking like entrepreneurs.

Stephen Carter