Page 187 - Why We Want You To Be Rich - Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki.pdf

I 181

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

WHAT DID You LEARN

FROM SCHOOL?

Robert's Response

There is a saying that goes, "The cobbler's children have no shoes." In
my case, the saying should have been, "The superintendent of education's
kid has no brains." Even though my dad was the head of education, I was
flunking out of school - not once but twice. I flunked English both my
sophomore year and my senior year because I could not write. It must have
been pretty embarrassing for my dad to havea son who was the class dummy.
In spite of poor grades, I did graduate and received congressional
nominations to the u.s. Naval Academy and the u.s. Merchant Marine
Academy.Although my grades were low, I had fairly good SAT scores and I
wasgood at football, which helped with the admissions process. I chose the
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York,because I wanted
to be a merchant seaman and the pay was much higher than for Naval
Academy graduates . Back in 1965, when I made my decision, an ensign in
the Navy made about $200 a month and a graduate from Kings Point made
about $2,000 a month. When I graduated from Kings Point, Navy ensigns
were still making about $200 a month and Kings Pointers, if they sailed
merchant ships into the war zone, were making about $100,000 a year. So,
to be honest, even though the Naval Academy is a more famous school,
Kings Pointerswere, at the time, some ofthe highest paid college graduates
in America. A yearly salary of $100,000 was very good money in 1969,
especially ifyou were only 22 years old.
However, I did not take one of those jobs. Instead, upon graduation, I

Two MEN • ONE MESSAGE
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