Self Worth Nett Worth

This is a slogan of a training company, which I think is rather unfair and ungrateful to schools. It also has a very limited understanding of what being 'rich' is. While being rich mean having an abundance of desirable qualities and elements in general terms, it is common for many people to equate 'being rich' with one who merely has lots of money.

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Even restricting our definition of 'being rich' into the narrow scope of money, schools actually do teach us how to make them. For instance, good language abilities enable me to communicate effectively with others and read up on the fine details of product specifications and commercial laws. Ultimately, having good language skills help me to make money.

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Other subjects like maths, science, history and geography are obviously useful tools to make money with, and there are the more subtle ones that I have found even more useful. For instance, even the dreaded non-phonetic Chinese ideograms have helped to improve my pattern recognition abilities, alongside with the more congenial art lessons; and after all, business is but about recognising patterns and striking the opportunities at the right time! And what better way to be trained in precise timing than by learning music? Besides, music is also inherently highly structured and intuitive, which is among the traits of successful businessmen.

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So schools do teach us how to make money, and it is just a matter putting all the skills together. More amazingly, schools not only teaches us how to make money but also the moral duties to society, family and self. It teaches us to serve society and that money is but the fuel to our lifestyles, not the source.

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In highly urbanised cities, where its people are further and further removed from nature, it is easy to believe that money is the source of life. Yet, money is merely an invention by human beings to store value. The plants don't have money. The animals and the entire nature don't have money; and they live (until they are destroyed by humans). Nature, after all, is eternally regenerative and abundant. As Buckminster Fuller puts it, we are all multi-millionaires by the measures of what nature has already given us.

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So why do business 'gurus' say that schools do not impart the skills to become 'rich'? It could be their own myopia that being rich is just merely having money and their own shortcoming of not recognising the business skills that are implicit in all the subjects in school. Perhaps they didn't really understand those subjects when they were in school and have missed the essence in their own education! If not, then they could be using those silly slogans to whip up the feeling of inadequacy among the audience. That is, break their confidence, make them feel that they need something that is missing in their education and that they have to get it fast in order to make money. In other words, they are selling fear. Sadly, that's also a way to become rich make money - by selling fear.

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I have this video of Chris Gardner, the real life character in the movie "In the Pursuit of Happiness". He certainly did not attend any 'how to get rich" classes, but he got there to make lots of money and lots of good morals too! There is another post about him in this blog. For more of him, click here.

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Finally, look around you and find out if those well-rounded fabulously ones needed a business guru?

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