Wakanyugi wrote:mv_ufanisi wrote:Muriel wrote:Mv ufanisi,
I am assuming you opine you are 'enlightened'. I am, however, of an otherwise opinion. You are still in 'darkness'.
For example:
1. did you know that the richest and most affluent countries in Europe had very strong religious roots and heritage?
2. You opine USA is great because it's God fearing. Just because it's founders were deeply religious does not follow that now all Americans are also deeply religious consequently resulting to it's greatness.
3. Education leads to personal development. You get education so you can optimise your latent potential. That your country benefits from your eduction is a bonus. Capitalism. Reason for availability of educated poor people and lots of uneducated wealthy people is capitalism.
4. Your rank in school has a role to play in how you start your independence from your benefactors. When you got your bachelors you were given 'power to read and do all that appertains' to your line. It's the start not the end.
5. Before you do, you must know. or have you forgotten the relationship between cause and effect? See point #7.
6. You analyse Mississippi hoping we will take what you say at face value.
Income Distribution Within U.S. Religious Groups Please do not fuddle statistics. More than a quarter of the population in Mississippi is African American.
Shida ya nyeuthi hata huko Amerikani usibandike kwa wengine.
7. If you insist for government to define education for you and accept and abide by that definition what does that make you in the system? See point #4.
Just because one has strong religious roots or even wears red shirts every day doesn't mean that is the cause of their wealth level.
For example, students at Alliance High School wear green sweaters, does that mean that we should tell students in all other high schools to wear the same clothes and hope for better exam results?
You have to establish causality. Correlation =/ (not equal) Causality.
I'm yet to see the causality between wealth and religion. I think the assumption of religion causing wealth creation is wrong.
Nevertheless the socializing power of of religion does contribute to the kind of ambition that adherents use to generate wealth. Examples abound; from the Mormons, Jews, Quakers etc. But what these prove is not religious causality but that, given similar socialization, most humans will succeed in increasing wealth.
In fact I believe the greatest such socializing power is not religion per se. It is persecution. The fact that Africans, despite experiencing persecution at every turn have not been able to 'rise' in a similar way is a mystery to me.
The Holy Grail question is how do people create wealth in reality?
1. Trading. From ancient times, traders who could provide desirable goods were usually able to make a profit and generate wealth over time. Sometimes this involved traveling into far away lands. We see this in Kenya by people traveling to Dubai, China and the rest and selling goods at a profit.
2. Starting a new business. There's lots of people who have been able to create wealth by starting a fast food shop, salon or even a manufacturing company which ends up being successful. These guys start from scratch with a concept.
3. Joining an existing business as a distributor/dealer/partner - a lot of guys who do this for companies like Safaricom, Coca-Cola and big brand names such as Nokia and Mercedes are able to ride on the popularity of the products being sold. They don't need to come up with the idea but just do a good job of serving customers and being a good distribution channel.
4. Speculation in the markets - this could be in real estate, stock market, forex etc. Buy and hold an asset that appreciates in value over time.
5. Popular Talent - musicians, athletes, TV hosts etc who get popular enough will usually make a tidy sum over time.
6. High earning jobs - especially in the corporate sector. (This is what education targets)
Most wealthy people can be placed within these brackets.
Africans are struggling with change management - moving from a medieval lifestyle to suddenly living in the information age. A large number of Africans are still stuck in the medieval age especially farmers. But it is expecting a lot for people to move into a modern lifestyle within the stretch of 100 years what others have spent at least 500 years moving away from.
Think about this:
Most African cultures are experiencing city/town living for the very first time in history. Compare this with Europeans, Arabs and such who have had cities for far longer times.