Think Long, But Not Too Hard. Part 1: China Envy

In this two-part posting, I explore the mindset of billionaires through the lens of the Nicolas Berggruen Institute's report, A Blueprint to Renew California: Report and Recommendations Presented by the Think Long Committee for California.  This Think Long committee was comprised of a select group of politicians and corporate leaders, including billionaire pseudo-reformer Eli Broad and do no evil Google's Eric Schmidt.  On education issues, the committee was informed by none other than Michelle Rhee.  While this report may have no real legislative impact in the long-run, it provides insight to the minds of the 1% and their questionable concern for the well-being of American public education.

We Americans seem to have a bad case of China envy.  Time and again we are told by politicians and business leaders that if we do not pull ourselves up out of our downward spiral of educational and entrepreneurial slacker-dom, the Chinese will eat us for lunch. 

The Blueprint to Renew California states in its opening paragraph on k-12 education reform:

Quality K-12 education is the foundation of any solid middle class society, providing opportunities for upward mobility. This is especially so in a knowledge economy that faces stiff competition globally and where students in other countries from Singapore to South Korea to China outperform California’s students. To ensure the state’s long-term competitiveness, California schools must be brought up to global standards.

Never mind Tienanmen Square, we must strive for global standards!  This rhetoric is unfounded, to say the least.  Being like China will not help us much, and certainly not in education.  While Berggruen's committee might be thinking long, they obviously didn't think very hard.  Just ask the Chinese.

A recent NPR report, China's Rich Consider Leaving Growing Nation , did just that in exploring why China's millionaires are looking to get green cards in America.  Are they coming over to eat us for lunch?  According to the report:

Last fiscal year, nearly 3,000 well-to-do Chinese applied for investor green cards in the U.S. That's up from just 270 four years ago.  A recent survey by Bank of China and Hurun, a company that tracks China's rich, found that 60 percent of Chinese millionaires have either emigrated, are in the process of doing so or are thinking about it.  A China Merchant's Bank Report found the top reason was a better education for their children. The second: protecting assets.

In a story about wealthy Chinese protecting their assets from an unpredictable government, I was surprised to hear the number one reason why the wealthy are fleeing China: better education for their children. 

The Chinese appreciate America.  They do not want to eat us for lunch, they want to eat lunch with us.

Stop the fear-mongering, start working to our strengths, and reclaim our public education!