Recently I wrote and article here entitled Retire Young in the Philippines — But What About My Children . The thrust of the article was to explore the ideas and possibilities that are somewhat unique to military retirees, especially the idea that it’s not only possible to move to the Philippines at younger age, but that your children would not suffer growing up in the Philippines, but indeed even possibly benefit.
The discussion that arose seemed to center on something that I really didn’t even mention … the Philippine Public Schools system and various other issues people had with school systems in general.
Let me clarify a few things so you can better understand what I am talking about here, right or wrong.
Schools Are Not The Real World
It does not matter what schools your children go to. Some are better (in some people’s opinion), some are worse. Some are free and some cost money. Some have a huge “brand” behind them are are talked about by some as if they are essential to success in life. Others, “not so much”.
But don’t be taken in. regardless of how important you think school is for your child, school doesn’t mean that much regarding success in life.
Nor does “getting a job”. For those of you still dependent upon jobs and who still have one, well more power to you. Both my grown children (in their 30’s) have conventional J*O*B’s, but if they were to lose their jobs tomorrow, I doubt either of them would be long in developing their own business to earn an income. They both have skills, experience and an entrepreneurial attitude that they didn’t learn in school, thank you very much.
You Don’t Have To Go To School in the Country You Work In.
One of the comments I read in my original article just rang kind of sour to me. The commenter said something as if he were settling the debate that said, more or less, “Look, it’s only common sense, you should go to school in the country you want to get a job in.”
Really? Hmmm, I’m not sure I agree with that premise. I’m not sure this lady does, either.
Ever see this lady on TV or in the movies? She is a US citizen, by birth, and she’s living and working in the USA (by choice) and last time I checked she is making plenty money and would be defined as quite successful by most people.
Know what she has in common with the children I was talking about in my original article?
Her dad is a US military member, her mother is Vietnamese-Chinese and her parents took Olivia overseas to grow up and go to school in Japan. How horrible for their daughters? What opportunity could they have in Japan, of all places? At least in the Philippines a lot of people speak English for goodness sake.
But guess what? Although she made a lot of money from jumping into bowls of Jell-O or whatever crazy stunts she used to do on “Attack of the Show”, she has now worked in “name brand” movies with actors like Robert Downey Jr., and if you happen to be a fan of the current hit HBO series “Newsroom” (I’m a huge fan, by the way), I think you’d agree Olivia is pretty successful too.
Know what she says about being half-Asian and growing up and being educated overseas?
Olivia Munn, who plays the strong-willed, tough and confident character Sloan Sabbith in HBO’s original series “The Newsroom,” hated her “too Asian” looks—chinky eyes, dark hair, freckles—while growing up.
…..Rather than resent this, Munn said, she “accepted it as exactly what it was.” She told the Inquirer during a gathering of Southeast Asian journalists at the Four Seasons Hotel on Orchard Boulevard here, “I just had to accept that people wouldn’t be as sweet or nice to me as they were to her.”
Added the 33-year-old actress, “That’s how I live my life now.”
…..
Q: You’re Chinese, your mom was born in Vietnam, but you grew up in Japan. Which country do you identify with the most?
A: I identify with China and Japan. My mom speaks Mandarin and Vietnamese. I was used to speaking both when I was young, but when I transferred to an American school I became too embarrassed to speak them. I think I want to spend more time learning Mandarin.
Q: Is knowing different languages important?
A: It is. One advantage of having a military family and moving around a lot is that you feel like a citizen of the world. (My emphasis) Even if I feel awkward in life, I also feel that I can go anywhere, that everywhere is my home. I would love to come back and live for a month in a place where they speak only Chinese.
Read more: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/105655/newsroom-star-turns-asian-flaws-into-assets#ixzz2c1xTuGFy
OK, OK, so even though she’s a mixed heritage child and she lived all her formative years overseas, being a film of television star is a pretty exceptional thing. For the “average” Phil-Am kid growing up in the Philippines and going to school outside the US has got to be a disadvantage, right?
Are You Sure About That?
Well let me tell you about another successful person I know very well here in the Philippines, and the company she works for, here in Manila. I’m not sure if I should name them, since I didn’t discuss this with my Filipina acquaintance in advance, but the company is huge, it’s global (based in London, although some Americans think it’s a US company) … it has it’s “tentacles” in that many areas of business back in the USA. It has four letters in it’s name and chances are you have one or more credit cards in your wallet today owned by this company … since the 2008 crash they bought up US banks like crazy, letting most of them keep their brand name.
A year or so ago I went to a family day affair this company held for its employees here in Quezon City, Metro- Manila. During the day I had occasion to sit and have coffee in one of their employee break rooms. On the wall was a huge bulletin board, loaded with all the corporate trivia that’s almost a carbon copy of what’s on the employee bulletin board where you work. Big corporations are, after all, big corporations.
But one thing did catch my eye as very special. The company public relations department had conducted a survey of senior executives in the company asking some questions about how these executives felt about a political issue which was in the news back then.
The issue, or how they felt, isn’t important, but there was a huge poster, like an org chart, showing all the “higher ups” that mattered to this division of the company, and there was a picture (so you could easily see the racial makeup of each person) and a listing of their home towns and where they went to school, along with their ‘words of wisdom” on the survey question.
From the CEO down through the junior vice-president level, there were about 50 people on the hart. Male to female ratio? About 60% male 40% female. “White to non-white ratio? Roughly 50%. Countries of birth represented? I counted roughly 20 different ones. Predominately UK, US, Aus, NZ, HK, Mainland China, India and the Philippines.
And every demographic was pretty well spread evenly across the chart. The CEO was Australian, the 4 Senior VP’s under him were US, UK, Indian and Chinese, two guys and two gals.
And there were LOTS of Filipinos/Filipinas spread across the other 45 or so remaining positions. And all these executives had worked for the company in different areas of the world, and all expected to move somewhere else if the company offered them a better opportunity there.
My acquaintance (Philippine educated through the bachelor degree level) has been with the company about 4 years now, has been promoted 3 times so far, and fully expects she’ll move to a division in another country in the future. The corporation considered their international staff and outlook a plus factor … and looking at their balance sheet it would be hard to argue with that premise.
You think being born and educated in the Philippines is a handicap for a young person? Well you are entitled to your viewpoint, but I think not. Not at all.
I’m going to close with something very appropriate that my friend Bob just wrote on this subject. I enjoyed reading it, I think you might too:
Thinking that you or your kids will be isolated from the work market by moving to the Philippines is, in my mind, really backward thinking, because the truth that I see is quite the opposite. In many respects, you are what you think you are. If you think you will be limited, you will be. If you think that success is down the road for you, you will get closer to success with each action.
(Full article at: http://liveinthephilippines.com/backward-thinking/
Parting Thought:
If you seriously consider all the factors and then decide the Philippines isn’t right for you at an early military retirement age, well great. Everyone has to make the decision that is right for his or here own situation. But if you let other people make the decision for you, based on a lot of bogus negative “blather” (as my grandma used to call it), you don’t know what opportunities you may be denying your children. Godspeed.
I agree Dave, kids learning Chinese would be another + too.
Exactly, Chas,
I’ve received a few incredulous stares from people when I have said the same thing to fellow Americans who have asked me about language and their children. Mandarin or Pinyin make one heck of a lot of sense to study.
Hi Dave – I’m writing this comment with one eye on the TV screen watching a Redskins pre-season game, so, begging your pardon in advance if I sound confused. LOL
To me, this article is a reinforcement of the points I have made in the exchanges I had with one of the commenters in your previous article regarding the schooling of retirees’ children in the Philippines on the following points:
Point 1. It is possible to get good education in a Philippine institution of higher learning;
Point 2. Graduates from Philippine institutions of higher learning have demonstrated the ability to compete globally;
Point 3. If you are in the Philippines, it is not necessary to send your child to a U.S. university to get a good education, or to get a good job; in fact,
Point 4. While I am not discountng the importance of good educaiton, a college degree is not even a pre-requisite for a successful life (financially), in some cases.
John, I agree 100% with your point 2 above!
I agree with all four points, John. Especially your forth point. “College Degree != Good Education in many cases. “Higher Education has become a gigantic Ponzi scheme type scam in the USA.
It used to be one could make clear comparisons how HS grads earned way more in a career than dropouts, and college grads earned way more than HS grads, etc.
Today those curves have flattened considerably. 20 years ago, you could spend $20,000 getting a 4 year degree and expect a $100,000 job. Today it is more like spending $100,000 on the degree and being lucky to get a $20,000 job.
Dave, good article and a very valid point. On my last job here in the US I worked with people from around the world, who had been educated around the world. In the age of the global economy, one could surmise the value of a global education as well. And as John Reyes indicated in the previous comment the education one receives is not the only factor involved in achieving a successful life.
Exactly, Steve. How many people know, for example that the Us New York Stock Exchange … the “Big Board”, where some would say most of the US’s money resides or at least transfer through frequently, is actually owned by a Dutch firm, Euronext N.V?
Or check out how many US banks and especially their credit card subsidiaries are now owned by HSBC? (That’s the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to those of you who seem to think HSBC is a US company).
The idea of any one country being the “Indispensable Nation” is long out of date.
Interesting points John, much is down to the individual child.
Reminds me of an old adage “School education may get you a job but self education could make you a fortune”.
I’ve felt since arriving in Philippines five years ago, that the opportunities are better than in U.S. It just takes a little capital and some analyzing the market.
You need to think about what they had in the country you come from that was sucessful, and is not here.
(1)Samal Island land is expensive near the water, but cheap inland. A large piece of land, cleared, would make the only golf course on Samal for all the resorts. A 19th hole bar, and a golf store would bring in money. I’d get a couple vans to bring people from the resorts for golf.
(2) Where do you get soft ice cream in Davao. Only place is at the mall. In U.S., Dairy Queen is everywhere. A soft ice cream store in the barangay areas of Davao would be tremendous. Children would all tug at mom and dad and say, “Ice Cream, Ice Cream”
(3) If you want a restaurant, there’s millions here. You have to find something different to compete…. Drive Through. yes a few in Davao, but not up in the large Barangay areas. Add a drive through to compete.
Just my first three ideas. I’m sure as people think, this list can grow and grow. The business opportunities that are not existing in Davao. Just think about it!
Kenneth, my father and I sold soft serve machines in the Bahamas over 20 years ago. It worked well for a while. What we did was we would give the person the machine, but they would sign a tying agreement only buying the mix from us (we had a source in Florida who reconditioned old machines). Biggest issue was getting posters showing black people eating ice cream (the customers complained that all of the people in the posters were white) the machines would be set up in little towns, near schools, and at the straw market near the cruise ship dock
We also sold a few to bars to make daiquiri and other frozen drinks
What killed the business was that the machines are cheap. Everyone else saw them making money and competition killed the business (only so many people to buy in a little town)
Dave
The story of Percy Barnevik and ABB comes to mind. Though his reputation is now somewhat tarnished due to a pension fiasco, he was truly a visionary, moving ABB from a large Swedish company to a major multinational.
ABB was truly the first large company that was border less. Barnevik de-centralized the company, making it truly international. Though they have HQ in Switzerland, it is mainly paper. Decision making is spread throughout branches around the world. Executives are moved around the world frequently. All employees are required to be multilingual. The word “foreign” is banned in company correspondence. More involved is the fact that he changed the corporate culture into a new way of thinking, without boundaries. He was really the first to recognize that the world has changed and isn’t going back to the old way of thinking
Amen on that, John. Also what a lot of people fail to realize is the power of “free’ and open source. Right here , this platform that we are all using to read and comment on … and that Bob makes a decent profit with .. is free software .. WordPress.
It’s made, updated and supported by a little company called Automattic. How the heck can you make money from giving away something for free? Well last year they did $45,000,00 in revenue (of approximately 150 workers), and virtually all the workers live and work at home .. in more that 20 countries, IIRC.
I’m sure I get on some people’s nerves at times when I say, “Don’t seek just some little mundane, redundant “me too” job or dream of opening some little “bottom feeder” “me too” business. You are ALL worth so much more than you are giving yourself credit for.
Excellent article! as a young person planning to move across,it resonated with me.
The younger the better so far as I am concerned. I don’t have a lot of money but if it were possible to trade money for time, I’d spend every single penny I own for say 20 years off my age. Start from absolutely nothing, no “job security” and all that “clap trap”? Absolute;ly. Just remember to not limit yourself to “Making money in the Philippines”. Live in the Philippines and make your money from the rest of the world, that’s my thought on the path to success in this century.
Firstly thank you. Secondly I know you, we have spoken in the forums on mindanao Bob page! !! Small Internet. Thirdly you are absolutely right. I use business cause it’s my passion, but absolutely a different life would be great!!!
Yes, I too would trade money for time. You can always make more money but time spent is time gone: forever.
I too wish I had come here years earlier. I see so many opportunities laying around here than any place I have ever been: U.S.A. Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand & Mexico. But I need a nap in the P.M. now so I don’t do much. I live on Palawan by the way. But we do a few projects like we are totally on solar & wind now since the power company is so unreliable. They say the power is 220V bolt rarely is plus brown outs nearly daily. The solar / wind thing is fun. I have learned so much. Now we are building small electric buses & an electric boat. That is going to be fun too!
Delighted to hear about your success with solar there on Palawan. I too am of an age when I need a nap in the afternoon, I’m 71. But sometimes I think I am the youngest minds when it comes to energy. The national government insists on dumping billions into coal plant to make the Chinese rich and ruin the environment and many expat rush to the hardware store to buy nosy, overpriced fume spewing generators becuase “everyone knows solar is too expensive”. What a crock and what a failure on the part of our education system … we don’t seem to be able to teach people to THINK.