The Van Leer Institute, in Jerusalem, Israel, began a workshop on entrepreneurship in 1991 to try to develop Israeli entrepreneurial skills at the high school level. The course is underwritten by large Israeli corporations and it offers students the chance to start and run real companies. The curriculum encompasses marketing, product promotion and banking and finance, as well as identifying a marketable product. Enrolled students have successfully marketed several innovative products.

Until recently. free enterprise was not a commonly taught subject in Israel's classrooms. As the rise of Zionism was so closely intertwined with socialism, generations of Israelis have grown up with an ...