I agree with Yurong Luanna Jiang comments on the importance of international cooperation, globalization and unity. I do not understand the war-mongering and posturing going on by some in the U.S.
She has an elite background – coming from China, she studied in the U.S. (Duke) and the U.K. (Cardiff University) and then completed her MPA degree at Harvard. She earned scholarships in China to study abroad, and is, obviously, bilingual.
As I often note – she, like most elite, is not someone who had work starting at age 10 and pay for their own college education, saving money by living at home and going to the local public college. My parents – my Mom specifically – pushed hard to be working from a young age onward. Builds good character, work skills and all that. Which meant I did not engage in extracurricular activities, which can have their own benefits.
When my own kids were in school, I did not encourage them to work – instead, by excelling in their school work they were able to attend away universities and receive scholarships worth vastly more than anything they ever would have made as teens, working at minimum wage, low skilled jobs.
I believe this should be the focus for many college bound students, regardless of their financial situation. Putting kids to work at low skilled, minimum wage jobs makes little sense today, for most students, especially those that intend to go to college.