Comment by tokenadult
16 years ago
"I wasn’t sure at the time, but having had enough free time of late to ponder such questions, I think I’ve come to the conclusion that having a father who can pay for a top-notch education outweighs the disadvantage of being raised by a hypocrite. Sticking with the job for the sake of a paycheck passes the children test."
I wonder how many children get sent to college by dads like that.
I was sitting next to Reg Braithwaite at the first startup school when one speaker (pg?) said something about startups being for young people so they can focus 100% on the company without worrying about kids. Reg stood up and said, paraphrased, "I'm starting a company _because_ of my kids, so they can say that their dad showed them how to follow their dreams instead of doing the safe thing like everyone else."
Respect.
My oldest is 7 now, and I hope he'll be able to say that his father showed him that living with a clear conscience is worth even more than a top-notch education.
I think it shows closed-mindedness on his part. They taught him analysis at MIT, but they didn't teach him to think properly.
You're a guy with a degree from the top technical school in the world and you've got one of the world's most prestigious consultancies on your resume: you don't think you could go on to find a job in which you could afford your kids' education AND not be a hypocrite?
I respect him for standing up after the fact and saying "I'm a wealthy hypocrite." But I don't respect him for going to work there in the first place. You'd have to have spent junior year of college buried in sand not to know it's a game, mostly dirty.
Well he was taking a double course-load and working, so that may count as being buried in sand.
But still, even if he didn't know beforehand, he figured it out very quickly upon arrival and then stayed for a long time for the money, so I agree with most of your point.
Did he stay a long time? It doesn't look that way to me from the article, but maybe I just missed something.
http://thesensibletechnocrat.blogspot.com/2009/06/third-day-... seems to imply that he started there in June 2009. http://thesensibletechnocrat.blogspot.com/2009/10/moral-impe... seems to imply he was still there in October.
... Ooh, and all four parts of the story of which the OP here is part 3 are together in one handy bundle at http://thesensibletechnocrat.blogspot.com/2010/03/dubai-and-... .
So, he was apparently there for at least 4 months and at most 9 months. I wouldn't call that "a long time" in this context.
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The Assumption here seems to be that these kind of decisions are 'one second' ones. sadly, they are not. Most people in most situation take time in deciding one way or other. Mostly until they find a strong push in either direction. In this case it seems to be the confidentiality agreement.
> I wonder how many children get sent to college by dads like that.
Given the amazing human capacity to rationalize everything, I would guess -- a lot.
I would guess a lot, too- because human beings are by nature hypocrites.
Freud wrote that to be civilized you must also be a hypocrite
I don't know, but I think it's a horrible conclusion. He hated his job and felt he was making the world a worse place. If that's what his top-notch education got him, why did he want the same for his children?