![Huddah Monroe with Jeff Koinange. Rarely do āAā students become rich and they work for āCā students according to Kiyosaki. [Photo/Huddah Monroe]](https://businesstoday.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Huddah_Jeff_Huddah.jpg)
How come many of million-dollar lottery winners, well-paid athletes and well-managed entrepreneurs wake up one day to find they are broke? How come a student works hard and smart in school to attain āAā grade to get the best and well-paying jobs, to afford basic needs and luxurious desires and be financially stable, but never achieves such desires fully?
Why is it that some people work for other people? But why is it that money works for other people (a few) and other people (many) work for money? But how comes that āAā students work for āCā students, and āBā students work for the government?
Robert Kiyosaki, the author of a book, Why “A” students work for āCā students and āBā students work for the government asks: āHow does a āCā student work for āAā? and frankly answers: āBy studying what āAā students do not study.ā
We are in trouble, he says. But the trouble is not that of money. The real trouble is in the eĢ©ducation sector. The eĢ©ducation systems we have teaches students how to be a successful employee rather than start their own business.
This situation is caused by eĢ©ducation systems that orient students towards finding a high-paying job rather than creating high-paying jobs, climbing the corporate ladder rather than how to create companies and corporate ladders, jobs security rather than financial freedom, and teach little to nothing about money.
It persuades students to believe that with good grades they will earn a decent job that comes with a great salary.
The students upon graduation turn out to be intellectually capable but are financially daft. After a degree, the students go back to school to get masters and even a PhD to climb up the corporate ladder.
He says that the eĢ©ducation system has always focused on two types of eĢ©ducation: academic and professional eĢ©ducation , and rarely financial eĢ©ducation.
That academic eĢ©ducation supports the general skills of learning such as how to read, write and solve arithmetic problems. Professional eĢ©ducation provides specialised skills to earn a living. Out of this eĢ©ducation, we get doctors, engineers, lawyers, business executives and accountants, among others.
According to Kiyosaki, the mantra, āgo to school, get a decent job, earn more and be richā is an outdated and obsolete financial advice. This is because the Return on Investment (ROI) on eĢ©ducation is now minimal.
But that is not to say, one should abandon going to school. The point is that one should change the approach and perspective of eĢ©ducation . That is, go to school not to get a job but to create jobs.
These āAā students are conditioned to think that making mistakes is bad and therefore, they avoid risks of making mistakes.
They say: āGive a man a fish and you feed him a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.ā Kiyosaki asks: āAre our schools failing to teach students to fish? Or are our schools teaching students that they are entitled to their daily fish?ā
This could be the reason so many students come out of college looking for jobs. That is why so many people are dependent upon the government to provide jobs and basic life support.
Types of students
āAā students: These are the academic-oriented students. He refers to āAā students as managerial capitalists (CEOs & directors) running large corporations. They are employees and not entrepreneurs. They graduate from the finest schools. They did not start the business and do not own the business. They get paid whether they do a good or a bad job.
These āAā students are conditioned to think that making mistakes is bad and therefore, they avoid risks of making mistakes. That most of them are content to know that 2 + 2 = 4. But most do not know how to turn 2 + 2 into four dollars or millions more.
āBā Students: Refers to bureaucrats who run the government. They know how to spend money but do not know how to make money. For them to get more money to spend, they increase taxes.
The āBā students are taught by āAā students. They get paid whether they do an excellent job or a bad job. When you give a bureaucrat one dollar, they will spend a hundred.
āCā Students: These are true capitalists. They are entrepreneurs who know how to take a dollar and turn it into a hundred dollars. They invest in businesses, products and services that create jobs and opportunities.
Unlike āAā students, the āCā students want to know how to make 2 + 2= $4,000, 000. To the capitalist, that kind of math is worth studying.
Reading this book without taking it with a pinch of salt can turn out to be one of those motivational books that will impart you with enthusiasm as after reading you will realise that enthusiasm without knowledge is no good.
Ask yourself:
How do I quit my 8am ā 5pm job?
How do I get some capital to invest in a business?
Am I willing to take some risks?
Are you willing to go from failure to failure?
Know that entrepreneurship is not for everybody. But the most important thing is to be financially intelligent. For instance, if you are employed or own a small business, how do you spend your money?
He says: āOne reason why so many people struggle financially is that they cannot delay their gratification. Most people would run out and buy the Porsche (read Mercedes, Range) on credit, using bad debt.ā
Being employed as a junior worker, senior manager or a CEO or running a small business doesnāt imply that you are an āAā student forever. You simply need to learn the basics of a āCā student: Know how to invest, take risks and learn from your mistakes.
So the C student went to a different school to learn how to make 2+2=4000000? My friend don’t play with our minds, we all went to the same school, our education is legit, Bill Gates, FB founder all went to school and were well educated and now are billionaires, in our nation billionaires never attended any school and that’s why they loot Kenya to the ground to sustain their wealth, they can’t reason or think. They use you to ensure the elite loses hope .
First of all, Hudda is the wrong person to put on this article as an example of an ENTER-preneur. Not everyone can offer the services she has offered to rise up the financial ladder. Kyosaki make his money by selling motivational books that frustrate more that inspire the youth, who are made to believe they are not doing enough. Very few people (like Bob Marley and Kipchoge) get rich out of talent. The majority inherit from their rich parents, or get to politics and steal from the poor. LET THESE MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS NOT FRUSTRATE YOU. WE CAN’T ALL GET C’s and E’s
I think most people don’t understand the interpretation of this book according to the comments, Robert has not said no one to go to school but he meant as you go to school acquire financial intelligence,
Penned down correctly!
Financial knowledge is the key.Let people think of owning business, generating new business ideas, and above all think how to make 5 bob from 1 bob given.
#Mapema mbuyaā
So all you of you are emotional after reading these brief and writing lots of bluff herešš, now go get the whole book and read so you get the true intention of the write-up.
Thank you
Good stuff
Good stuff I like it
Have you considered the fact that most youth in Kenya don’t have enough money to save and survive? Most times youth have to chose between survival and saving because of limited opportunity to access enough income to invest
I can spot A’s students somewhere.
Not all people will get A’s,some few will fall in category of B’s and C’s.Most of the A’s students feel like they are so assured of employment,same with B’s but for C’s student,they know that government and parastatals absorb the best and they’re not best.All they remain with is to venture into entrepreneurship,which may end up being eye-opener for they successful life.
Situations have forced us to be the so-called “A” students. Here in Kenya you can spend your whole life looking for money that can start a sustainable business. If your parents did not give you land or business or any inheritance, which options do you have? Education is the only way.
we all have different strengths and abilities and therefore can’t have the same formula to succeed. if one is a ‘A’ student they should be able to succeed and thrive in the field that can accommodate them. same with ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’,and ‘E’ student. unfortunately whatever class of student that is running our government and economy is so selfish and self centered that it is so difficult for others to succeed in others fields. Small business cannot be sustained because of the stringent requirements to operate either by government or financiers. those in employment can not negotiate for better terms because the rates of employment has stiffened the competition. the maths of 2+2=4 should work just as well as that of 2+2= $4,000,000 because their is a science to each that we know and apply differently.
Best life approach at such times of uncertainties.
This is inspiring. Thank you ndugu for the article
Financial discipline is the word and topic.
Success has no formula. What works for one person may not work for another person
Success has no formula. What works for one person may not work for another person
Any one can be an ‘A,B,orC’ student,how we position our mind determine our achievements in the real world.
It’s a bare truth that our education system fail to enlighten the students about financial education which should be the main topic in schools but what we are taught is how to work from your Twenties and retire at sixty.Really money is found in business,salary will earn you a living but business will earn you a fortune.
Most negative comments are from people who have felt the bitter truth of this article
šššChest pains though!
Bitter truth!
A very good write up, educative and inspiring. Thankyou.
Very educational material. We normally demonize those people with lower grades. Every grade counts. It only requires one to accept it and then look for survival tactics.
Life is not a straight line some of those A students are also entrepreneurs you should not generalise.
We both strived for good grades but what differs is the academic capability…No student aimed at either grade E,D or C , they all aimed at either B or A…
The point is ; our education system doesn’t offer financial strategy as a course at both primary and secondary but with CBC we are good to go as a nation…
Where are the D & E students? I find this article the best example of discrimination, sorry to say.
Getting an A doesn’t mean you are the most clever student as well as getting an E meaning you are the most stupid one, it all depends on the attitude approach to determine where one is categorized. Great article.
Kiyosaki is very right … A lot of salary jobs are just but a disguised form of slavery. A small regular salary confines you in a room somewhere on Earth for many years, and by the time you are retiring you realize that you have withered terribly, wasted your short life serving other people’s interests and now time is up and you have to go to your grave with your big dreams.
Very useless book and biased I know many D students who have employed A B C students infact iam a D+ student now in USA and many people who borrow money from me in Kenya are all A B students . It’s normal for C students to employ A or B students it’s not even news , but for D students to employ A B C students thus a pain in the as .
Graphic designer based in nairobi
Such a good book for enterpreneurial mindset
I bet when the A students start learning about financial intelligence will obviously dominate. Cut us the crap, bro.
This is a reality. Our education system has not evolved good enough to set most of the scholars for today’s world economy. The colonial rule made Africans believe that they should go to school to sharpen their skills in order to work for them (wazungus). The sad thing is that even after independence majority of African graduates, whether from colleges or varsities, go to school to get papers for employment search. I totally agree with the author that we need to embrace financial education.
Mostly luos kazi ni kuuliza na sikuhizi unafanya kazi wapi be like Kikuyu’s wakipatana wanaulizana what kind of business are u doing now
I find the perspectives of the author rather narrow, and bleeding from fallacies of relevance, bias, and presumptions.
First who said success must necessarily be measured by money and financial affluence?
The A student who ends up inventing a vaccine as successful as the C student who ends up building a very successful vaccine company. Both of them have the inner joy and satisfaction of impacting lives significantly in their own way. Both need each other. It would be absurd for the objective world to view student A the vaccine inventor who is not as financially endowed as student C, as a failure. Of course in a world where money is an end and not a means to end , A would be seen as a failure. I hope that this book is not premised on such an erroneous world view.
Second, I find the book rather ironical when it blames the education system for training job seekers as a reason behind the fate of most A students yet ignores that the system produces the C students who are pupportedly better entrepreneurs. This is a fallacy. If we are comparing apples for apples then education system cannot be the primary differentiator between the fate of two kinds of people who were educated under the same system.
Thirdly, as someone said, it is no news that C people employ A people. I’m not sure however whether it is true that majority C are employers while minority A students are employees. But let’s for arguments sake believe that this is true. So the question is : What is wrong with this? If the C student is blessed with entrepreneurial skills and the other one with inventiveness etc . What is wrong. Imagine if as many A students were entrepreneurs as the number of C grade entrepreneurs? Can you guess what could happen?
Lastly, how can we be blaming education systems for producing A students that are more of employees when history has it that many of the industrial revolutions we have ever witnessed in history have been made possible through geniuses like Isaac Newton, Einstein, Bill Gates, etc who were not only geniuses but had a decent education?
A’s, B’s……F’s are just but stepping Stones. What we do with these grades typically define what we become; “job creaters or job seekers”
A food for thought.. but anyway doess it mean ALL C students are employers while A and B students are employees. Opps there are other predermining factors
It’s a very good article… Inspirational
Kiyosaky and his fellows are just crooks! They made money through writing books about things that are quite impossible to realize and people keep buying hi so called motivational books just because they got frustrated after reading them.
One question: how could kiyosaky blame e****n system for creating jobs seekers while the same system creates job creators too?
Who is supposed to get the jobs done if everybody becomes entrepreneurs?