Adam Smith's the Wealth of Nations by Karen McCreadie

Author:Karen McCreadie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Infinite Ideas Ltd
Published: 2009-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…

Give your kids a financial education and teach them the basics about money regardless of gender. Make sure they understand the devastating consequences of debt. It’s far better for them (and for you) if they learn from an early age how to be financially prudent.

30 CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROFESSION

Adam Smith talks of the stereotypes and prejudices that exist between professions and proposes a controversial view, ‘How much the lower ranks of people in the country are really superior to those of the town is well known to every man whom either business or curiosity has led to converse much with both.’

DEFINING IDEA…

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly: ’Tis dearness only that gives everything its value.

~ THOMAS PAINE, ENGLISH REVOLUTIONARY

His point is that the ‘art of the farmer’ and ‘many inferior branches of country labour require much more skill and experience than the greater part of mechanic trades’. This was due to those in the country, ‘being accustomed to consider a greater variety of objects’ and therefore their trade, ‘is generally much superior to that of the other, whose whole attention from morning till night is commonly occupied in performing one or two very simple operations’. (As a farmer’s daughter I laughed when I read this and just had to include it.)

Throughout my life, I have always been hugely amused by the stereotypes I’ve met. If I had a pound for every time someone expected me to have straw in my teeth, I’d be a rich woman. My personal favourite was when the headmaster wrote on my university application form, ‘She has a variety of interests, which despite coming from a farming background, are not all related to that area!’ Ironically, I am now a writer (although I can lamb a sheep in an emergency), another profession that Smith targets. Apparently the Church got involved in education and it didn’t work out well for the ‘men of letters’.

Smith suggests that these ‘unprosperous’ fellows could have enjoyed the same standing and compensation as lawyers and scientists, had the Church not paid for their education. The numbers taking up this ‘free’ education meant there was an oversupply of writers, which forced the price down. As a consequence, their options were limited and they usually ended up as teachers, another profession that still to this day doesn’t enjoy the reverence it deserves.

So, what can be drawn from Smith’s assertions about professions and the inequalities of both wages and kudos? First, they serve as a reminder not to jump to conclusions about someone’s value or intelligence based on their professional choice. And ultimately, I believe Smith warns us against ‘free’ education. In today’s world I would add ‘easy’ to that statement. If something is free or too easy, we don’t value it - it’s just human nature. That’s why spoiling children is counter-productive to their long-term happiness. So, if you are sending your kids to university, make them contribute:

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