Meriales, Patricia Anne S. BSA-3.

MNGT 413 2:30 MW

F

A REACTION PAPER ON THE BOOK,

“WHY “A” STUDENTS WORK FOR “C” STUDENTS AND “B” WORK FO
R THE GOVERNMENT”

by

ROBERT T. KIYOSAKI

Robert Kiyosaki’s “Why A students work for C students and B work for t
he government” is about teaching people or “students” about financial educati
on. It is about teaching people how to be C students, because not all A stud
ents make it. Almost 80% of the American population prefer to be a busines
s owner that employs 100 or more people. They want to be entrepreneurs, b
ut the problem is that the school system is training the students to be emplo
yees. 70% of full-time corporate employees are considering or have consider
ed starting their own business, but then again, the problem is that they don’t
have the financial education that they need and it is the primary reason why
employees will remain as employees. Our educational system trains students
to be either “A” students, those who excel in academics, or “B” students, tho
se who work for the government but do not train them to be “C” students, th
e. capitalists who often follow the entrpreneurial path, carrying the torch of ca
pitalism and creating new jobs.

Everyone of us can be entrepreneurs. We just lack the financial educati

on to start our own business. Even those who did not finish school, those w
ho are not “A” students can be entrepreneurs. Take Thomas Edison and Alb
ert Einstein as an example, even the geniuses who have influenced the grea
test changes to our world were not “A” students. They were called addled or
lazy by their teachers. I believe that it is not up to them to label ourselves, it
is up to us to make something out of ourselves.

Financial crisis is an issue that is very relevant in today’s society. Althou

gh it is a big problem, it is not the main problem that we encounter. It is ed
ucational crisis, and how the lack of financial education is the true cause of f
inancial crisis. The question for part one, chapter one of the book is “how do
es a C student beat an A student?”. The answer would be, by studying what
“A” students never study.

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a
man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” This saying is about how i
t is more worthwhile to teach someone to do something that can be useful o
r helpful to them, rather than doing it for them. This book is about teaching
a man how to fish. It is about education, but not the education taught to us i
n school. When we are in school, we are taught about the mitochondria bein
g the powerhouse of the cell, or that C6H12O6 is the chemical formula for gl
ucose and many more things that are not about the real world that we shoul
d be preparing for. We do not learn about money and also, we are being ta
ught by people who know little about money. Hence, education, or rather edu
cation being inadequate, is our main problem and that is the reason why we
are perishing economically.

Now back to the question of the chapter, “How do C students beat A st

udents?”. The answer would be by studying what A students never study. In
school, most teachers will teach about the bad effects of money on people.
They have a quasi-religious view on money, and they believe that money is t
he root of all evil, as said so in Timothy 6:10. Instead of teaching the studen
ts about how to make it in the business industry, they teach or encourage st
udents to be employees. According to a friend of mine, someone told her tha
t if you want to be rich, you have to be an employer or an entrepreneur, not
an employee.

As discussed in this book, there are 3 types of students: A students, B

students, and C students. A students are those who were trained to excel in
academics, B students are the ones who were trained to be bureaucrats, or t
hose who work for the government, and C students are those who often follo
w the entrepreneurial path, carrying the torch of capitalism and creating new
jobs. The sad thing is students were not trained to C students. They were o
nly trained to be A or B students which is why most of them, after the gradu
ate, often work as employees and do not have the courage to be employers
or entrepreneurs. Although most of the full-time corporate employees are con
sidering or have considered starting their own business, they still remain as
employees because of the lack of financial education, and the general knowl
edge of how to start and manage a business, and how to make it grow. Edu
cation plays a major role in making it in the business industry. C students st
udy what A students do not, which is what their parents have taught them.

I agree with the statements in the book that parents should know that it
is up to them, and not the school system, to teach or prepare their children f
or the real world. Parents are the first teachers of a child, from whom they l
earn their values and ethics. They serve as the guide for their children in sh
aping or molding them to what they will be like when they grow up. The worl
d is a fast-paced, ever-changing, information-age world, where we should all
learn how to keep up. Parents have met the genius in their child. A child’s tr
ue genius is found in their dreams, and it is the parent’s most important job
to protect and nurture the genius in their child. This book was written for the
parents who want to give their child a financial headstart at home.

Robert T. Kiyosaki talked about his own story in this chapter. Although y
our parents have a great impact on your decisions and the things you should
do, I also believe that it is up to you on what you want for yourself. He als
o talked about how not learning from the past have a higher chance of repe
ating what they did. I agree with this statement because we should learn fro
m the mistakes that we have done in the past. We should be able to make
something of ourselves out of the failures we have experienced. Our failures
should not bring us down, instead it should be able to help us realize some
things about ourself for us to improve. He talked about not wanting to be like
his poor dad, so instead he followed his rich dad’s footsteps and studied wh
at the “A” students never study.

“Debt is Good.” According to Robert T. Kiyosaki, there is a good debt

and their is a bad debt. Good debt makes you richer while bad debt makes
you poorer. Unfortunately, people only know about the bad debt, or the mon
ey that they borrow to acquire liabilities instead of assets. This shows that w
e really lack financial education. Good debt not only makes you richer, but it
can also reduce what you pay in taxes. I believe thay debt is good when yo
u acquire it for assets. People should acquire good debt, not bad debt, beca
use good debt will help them be more “richer”.

“Taxes make the rich richer.” Good debt reduces what a person can
pay in taxes and that is why the rich become richer. Learning to leverage go
od debt and understanding its ability to lower a person’s taxes makes a goo
d case for the importance of financial education that has been emphasized
many times in this book. I agree that while we are school, we should learn a
bout taxes for us to know what is its effect on us. I am an accountancy stud
ent and therefore, I will be learning about this. But what about those who ar
e not like me? From where will they learn? Again, this is why “C” students b
eat “A” students. It is because they study about the real world with guidance
from their parents, what “A” students do not study.

President Obama and former governor Mitt Romney are very smart men
. Both appear to be good men. Both men received the very best in formal e
ducation, yet one made $3 million and paid 20.5% in taxes while the other
made $21 million and paid only 14% in taxes. The difference it seems is not
what they learned in school, but what they were taught at home. In many wa
ys, the story of Romney versus Obama is similar to the story of rich dad ver
sus poor dad. I agree that what is taught at home to the children has a grea
t effect on what will he or she will be in the future. I also believe that Romn
ey was taught more about financial education that is why he lays less taxes
than former President Obama. Although they both came from top notch scho
ols, there are just some certain things you cannot learn from school, and onl
y at home where your parenrs are your teachers.

In conclusion, this chapter of the book was a great read for me becaus
e I gained insights on what the real world is really about. People also believ
ed that we should go to school to get a job because if we won’t go to schoo
l, we won’t get a job. But isn’t that exactly what we are doing? I am currentl
y a 3rd-year Accountancy student in Notre Dame of Dadiangas University. I
am studying hard in order to get a good job after I graduate, but will working
as an employee help me become successful? It is a question I ask myself
always. If I want a good life for my family, will working as an employee and
earn minimum wage help me to achieve my goals? I personally feel battled
and confused about the decisions I made. This book made me realize some
things and that everything is bot about money. The author was rejected by
many publishers but that didn’t stop him from publishing his book. I should le
arn from both him and this book. The lessons that were talked about here s
hould be applied to yourself to help you be success in the future.