Fox News: There’s More Incentive for US Kids Today to Become Litigators Than Innovators. That’s Nuts by Arvin Patel
A few years ago, I moved to Paris with my wife and son for work.
Sometimes it’s not easy to tell if the decisions you make as a parent are succeeding. But when my wife and I told my 7-year-old son that we would be returning to America, his response left me speechless.
He asked if I would take him to go see the Tesla Factory in California the moment we got back. He wanted to see vehicles roll off the line and meet the people who make it happen.
This wasn’t the typical type of request you’d expect from a second-grade student — a 49ers game or a trip to Disneyland might be the norm. But it was one of my proudest moments as a father.
I’ve spent my life working as an innovator, from inventing and patenting products myself to helping lead some of the world’s largest intellectual property (IP) businesses. That my son could be inspired by the same values that bring me joy is a gift I cannot express in words.
These are the same values embraced by our nation’s founders and carried on by generations of Americans — innovation, entrepreneurship and hard work.
But while I celebrated our shared values, I found myself fearing for the future we are leaving for our children.