The headline is a non sequitur. These points all seem like individually good things to prepare humans for the world, but none of them are sufficient to explain how each child came across $80-120k [0] [1] [2] [3] [4] from part-time work.<p>[0] <a href="https://finaid.wisc.edu/undergraduate-cost.htm" rel="nofollow">https://finaid.wisc.edu/undergraduate-cost.htm</a>
[1] <a href="https://onestop.umn.edu/finances/cost-attendance" rel="nofollow">https://onestop.umn.edu/finances/cost-attendance</a>
[2] <a href="https://admissions.illinois.edu/Invest/tuition" rel="nofollow">https://admissions.illinois.edu/Invest/tuition</a>
[3] <a href="https://finaid.umich.edu/cost-of-attendance/" rel="nofollow">https://finaid.umich.edu/cost-of-attendance/</a>
[4] <a href="https://admissions.uiowa.edu/finances/estimated-costs-attendance" rel="nofollow">https://admissions.uiowa.edu/finances/estimated-costs-attend...</a>
I may have missed it but he didn't actually say how he made sure his kids could pay for college. Of course having a good work ethic is a great advantage but there is no mention of if his children took jobs, saved their allowance or are still paying off student debt.<p>Also their days seem extremely long with breakfast at 5:15 and curfew between 10 and 12. Surely more than 5hours sleep is beneficial for small children.
I feel like the eating advice is rather cruel. You're basically starving them until they eat what you tell them to.<p>I am frequently given this same advice by relatives for my picky eaters.
"When the kids turned 16, we bought each a car. The first one learned what that meant. As the tow truck pulled a once “new” car into the driveway, my oldest proclaimed: “Dad, it is a wreck!” I said, “Yes, but a 1965 Mustang fastback wreck. Here are the repair manuals. Tools are in the garage. "<p>Amazing! Will use this one day. The model described in the article seems pretty solid to me. Particularly the focus on teaching problem solving and discipline using self motivation.
There is no one right way to run a family. What works for one won't work for another.<p>I feel like, if you can somehow quantify success on a bell-curve, the values in this article aim to land kids in the middle two quadrants. You won't end up with kids in the bottom quadrant... but you also won't end up with individuals capable of soaring to great heights either. Just overall solid, middling, performers. There just would be no Apple, Microsoft, Dell, or any of the others... because people would have been conditioned not to take risks.<p>Anyway Plato wrote already wrote a response to this and it was in all the Philosophy 101 classes.<p>* Plato, "The Allegory of the Cave" || <a href="http://historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html" rel="nofollow">http://historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html</a>
It's great that a wealthy family tries to instill good values into their kids, but the idea that this kind of model could translate to everyone is a prime example of socio-economic ignorance.<p>The thing that actually sets kids up to succeed are a stable home life and financial security as a family. 'Doing Chores' and focusing on education and extracurriculars is nice, but there are a couple really important things:<p>Being able to focus on education and being able to encourage your kids to do extracurriculars is a privilege that is borne from money in the first place. If you can't afford extracurriculars and the various expenses they incur, or you don't have time to monitor and enforce a 'no TV/Computer/Games' time because you have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, then I guess you make a sacrifice there. If you don't live in a neighborhood when your kids can safely go outside unsupervised, then that's a sacrifice there. In a lot of places, community support services don't exist.<p>This shit right here:<p>"When the kids turned 16, we bought each a car....Here are the repair manuals. Tools are in the garage. I will pay for every part, but will not pay for LABOR.”<p>A garage, a manual, tools, any kind of car, the parts. This is a ton of money for one kid, let alone several. To think that this somehow teaches anyone a lesson about the real world is the definition of socioeconomic privilege. That is an entirely insurmountable expense for most people.<p>This entire article is just that though: It's a wealthy baby-boomer piece written from the stance of someone who's never wanted or struggled for anything. Their idea that you can project their methods onto other kids is unbelievably ignorant of the economic climate of working class America and is so disconnected from the real world as to be painful to read.<p>You want to raise kids that can pay for college by themselves? Be wealthy in the first place and reap all the implicit rewards that come with it.
This guy smells Mormon. Most of the kids likely interrupted their college with 18 month (girls) or 2-year (boys) proselyting missions. I envy his discipline and dedication.
Interesting. I really like some of these (mainly the big focus on self-reliance) and strongly disapprove of some others (5.15AM breakfast? No snacks? No thanks. More seriously, I'm really opposed to the mandatory 2 hours of daily study. I know I would suffer under that, as someone who can only study effectively in 15 minute intervals spread throughout the day)