Bad Ideas About Making Money
September 5, 2006
I agree wholeheartedly with Alexandra Dimitroff of Shorewood, Wisconsin. She recently wrote to Newsweek, criticizing "parents who think, 'if you can learn Chinese, you'll be rich.'"
Dimitroff says, "I want my daughter to understand that learning about the culture and language of another country will give her far more than a means of securing some economic gain for herself."
My take on learning Chinese: It won't get you rich any faster than learning English would make a Chinese person rich. To get rich, you have to learn how to sell things. If you know how to do that, you can hire translators.
I do not, however, agree with Dimitroff's attitude about making money - that it is, in some way, less important than learning other things (whatever those things might be). Learning how to support yourself and your family is the first and most important requirement of good parenting. Without doing that, a parent gives the world another body that must be supported by other people.
posted by M. Masterson @ 9:11 AM,
Subscribe to RSS Feed