Book Summary: Why A Students Work for C Students and B Students Work for the Government

In Robert Kiyosaki’s Why "A" Students Work for "C" Students and why "B" Students Work for the Government, the rich dad from his magnum opus Rich Dad Poor Dad elucidates the flaw in the current education system. Almost forever, schools have been mass-producing employees by rewarding those students who can ace exams and memorise content — the A students — and side-lining those who have a knack for higher-order thinking, ideating, and the mind of an entrepreneur — the C students. The A students are your academics, C students are capitalists and B students are bureaucrats.

As C students never get in the rut of validating themselves with percentiles in the class/workplace, they start creating something for themselves that eventually grows into businesses where A students apply for jobs. It will be the C students who will find a way around issues in real life as opposed to the A students, who don’t know how to deal with things beyond their syllabus. Back in school, the C students didn’t confine their learning to what the institution expected of them, that’s why they ended up average performers at school but became real contributors later in life. Amidst all this, the B students, who got stuck in between these two extremes, find themselves working for the government.

The author divides the population into four broad categories. First, employees. The individuals working for the big firms. Second, self-employed or small business associates. These freelance or work with small scale firms. Third, big business founders. The ones who create new organisations and jobs. Lastly, investors. Individuals who make money through trading stocks or funding ventures.

Parents tend to guide their children in a manner that they end up as employees or small business associates. But the capitalists (C students) won’t give in as they will never be satisfied working as employees.

Following this, the author offers a nonconformist perspective on some traditional ideas.

Entitlement mentality

We want to earn enough money to give our children everything they could possibly want. That might be a great motivator but it isn’t in your child’s best interests. If you don’t give your children money regularly or only offer less than what they ask for, they will think about making money themselves. This will make them come up with business ideas you couldn’t even imagine. By deconstructing their entitlement mentality, you create entrepreneurs at a very young age.

Intelligence

The intelligent person, as per the rich dad, is one that doesn’t stick to one side of the coin, but sits on the edge and appreciates both the perspectives. An intelligent person will take nuanced decisions by considering all the possible tangents they can end up on.

Report cards

Report cards become useless after leaving school, but parents don’t get this. When school is over, the only sheets of paper that hold importance are your financial statements. Schools and parents should educate children about what these are and how to create profitable statements. While schools can focus on the financial IQ of the students in conventional methods, parents should involve their children in business-related conversations at home and ask for their opinion to get them thinking on this path.

Debt

Contrary to what most wealth mastery mentors would say, the rich dad believes that debt is good as long as you use it wisely. Instead of taking debt for college, which is pretty much like gambling, if people borrow funds to invest in assets that will generate cash inflows, then taking on debt is not a bad thing at all.

Taxes

While the layman might still think that taxes take money from the rich and give it to the poor, that never happens in reality. When the government increases taxes, the capitalists find ways to avoid paying beyond the minimum legal threshold. Capitalists serve the government by creating jobs and investing in the economy, for which they are rewarded with tax deductions/allowances and thus taxes are seen as an opportunity by the capitalists to increase the amount they take home.

Words

The power of words is immeasurable as they can be used to influence and deceive. The words poor people use and the words rich people use will never be the same as it reflects the mindset of the two groups. Poor people conclude “I can’t afford it” while the rich ask themselves “How can I afford it?” Along with a mindset, words should also be learned to master financial literacy.

There are seven primary words that parents need to endow their kids with; asset, liability, cash flow, income, expense, debt, and capital gains.

God and money

The Bible is said to have more verses on money than any other topic. Every income strata focus on a different set of verses. The poor people pay attention to the verses describing money as an evil force. The middle class focuses on verses asking people to be grateful for how much money they have. And the rich people only acknowledge the verses where God rewards the rich and punishes the poor.

To summarise another rich dad session, Kiyosaki shares ten unfair advantages parents can give their children through financial literacy. The book is written in the classic rich dad format, intangible advice, directed specifically to parents this time. It brings some new theories and beliefs of the author put together with what was said in his initial magnum opus Rich Dad Poor Dad.

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