Reading Between the Lines

If you haven’t noticed it yet, our goals as educators are not just about helping your children become better test takers.

While we definitely hope that they will increase their opportunities by scoring higher, the ultimate goal is to make your children happy.

On their path to growing into global citizens and ideally, successful ones, they must acquire the ability to “read between the lines.” They build their “critical thinking” and “critical reading” skills here at our academy, but they should also learn how to take in the plethora of information out there and use it to predict the future.

Wisdom by the Richest Man in History

Take for example, Bill Gates and his wife’s foundation. They are trying to save the world through education and health and he writes about his thoughts regularly about what he thinks will come down the pipe. In Gate’s 2015 Annual Letter, he says:

OUR BIG BET

FOR THE FUTURE

BILL AND MELINDA GATES
Forty years ago, Bill and his childhood friend Paul Allen bet that software and personal computers would change the way people around the world worked and played. This bet wasn’t exactly a wager. It was an opportunity to make computers personal and empower people through the magic of software. Some people thought they were nuts. But the bet turned out well.

Fifteen years ago, the two of us made a similar bet. We started our foundation in 2000 with the idea that by backing innovative work in health and education, we could help dramatically reduce inequity. The progress we’ve seen so far is very exciting — so exciting that we are doubling down on the bet we made 15 years ago, and picking ambitious goals for what’s possible 15 years from now.

OUR BIG BET

The lives of people in poor countries will improve faster in the next 15 years than at any other time in history. And their lives will improve more than anyone else’s.

WE SEE AN OPPORTUNITY AND WE WANT TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

We’re putting our credibility, time, and money behind this bet — and asking others to join us — because we think there has never been a better time to accelerate progress and have a big impact around the world.

Some will say we’re irrational to make this bet too. A skeptic would look at the world’s problems and conclude that things are only getting worse. And we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that a handful of the worst-off countries will continue to struggle.
Bill and Melinda Gates in Tanzania When we travel, we meet with people to learn what they need to live a healthy, productive life. Mapinga, Tanzania, 2011

A CALL FOR GLOBAL CITIZENS

The more active global citizens there are the more progress the world will make

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We can make fighting poverty a priority. We can make fighting poverty a priority
But we think the next 15 years will see major breakthroughs for most people in poor countries. They will be living longer and in better health. They will have unprecedented opportunities to get an education, eat nutritious food, and benefit from mobile banking. These breakthroughs will be driven by innovation in technology — ranging from new vaccines and hardier crops to much cheaper smartphones and tablets — and by innovations that help deliver those things to more people.

The rich world will keep getting exciting new advances too, but the improvements in the lives of the poor will be far more fundamental — the basics of a healthy, productive life. It’s great that more people in rich countries will be able to watch movies on super hi-resolution screens. It’s even better that more parents in poor countries will know their children aren’t going to die.

This is just a part of his thoughts.  Continue reading and find out more potential guidance for the future.

However, it’s not just a matter of reading what he says, but it’s a matter of picking out what may hopefully be critical for the future of your children.

Gates also shared his thoughts on Reddit earlier as we shared.

Wisdom in the World of Finance by one of the Most Successful Investors in History

Annually, Warren Buffet also does something similar in the world of finance.  He publishes a letter to his shareholders and provides some amazing insight for anyone who wants to understand where they should put their money.

There are many other great resources out there and we pride ourselves in our ability to guide your children to those.  Please visit Hong Kong’s Top Education Center for more help in creating a path of educational success for your children.