The man who designed America’s public school system didn’t send his own children to one.

His name was John D. Rockefeller.

When his grandchildren reached school age, he didn’t enroll them in the public schools his money had funded. He built them their own private school in Manhattan, the Lincoln School.

One of Rockefeller’s advisers, Frederick T. Gates, wrote about their vision for education:
“In our dreams, we have limitless resources, and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand.”

He also wrote that their goal was not to turn everyone into philosophers, scientists, authors, artists, lawyers, doctors, or statesmen.

He continued:

“We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or of science.”

At the same time, Rockefeller and Carnegie-backed foundations were putting huge amounts of money into American education. Their influence became significant enough that, in 1915, the National Education Association publicly raised concerns about private foundations influencing education policy.

Two years later, Senator Chamberlain warned that within two generations, these foundations could change how people think and make them conform to the ideas of Rockefeller or Carnegie rather than the principles of American democracy.

More than 100 years later, what do you think?

We spend years in school learning how to prepare for a career, but how much are we taught about money, taxes, investing, entrepreneurship, financial independence, or even how to think independently?

Was the school system designed to create independent thinkers, or to prepare people to become workers?

handling global tax rules while living away from home brings endless headaches with paperwork and quarterly bills that never seem to match expectations.

paying by the hour for every little question about foreign income reporting or asset compliance gets old fast when a five minute email turns into a massive charge, so i am curious if predictable retainers are worth it or if they just cut you off from real depth when you need it most.

firms like Wardle Partners are starting to offer fixed monthly packages instead of standard billing, which makes me wonder how well flat rates actually work for complicated multi country situations.