Thomas Friedman’s reference to growing competence of Indians is exaggerated in this post - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 7, 2021
A social media post attributing a couple of quotes to American political commentator and author Thomas L Friedman’s article in the New York Times is being shared widely on social media. The quotes describe the transition of India over the years. One of the quotes goes like ‘Finish your homework. Think of children .in India, who would become CEOs and make you starve, if you don’t’. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: ‘Finish your homework. Think of children in India, who would become CEOs and make you starve, if you don’t’  – Thomas Friedman.
Fact: It is true that Friedman commented about India’s poverty earlier. In this regard Friedman wrote in his book ‘when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, Tom, finish your dinner, people in China and India are starving’. In the very same book in the context of describing what his advice would be to his daughters in the light of globalisation and growing competition from Indians and Chinese, Friedman wrote ‘Girls, finish your homework, people in China and India are starving for your jobs’. This reference of Friedman is exaggerated and shared as ‘Indian children would become CEO’s and make Americans starve.’ Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
In an article titled ‘Doing our Homework’ penned by Thomas L Friedman for New York Times back in 2004, he wrote ‘when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me: Finish your dinner people in China are starving. I, by contrast, find myself wanting to say to my daughters: Finish your homework people in China and India are starving for your job.’ . Even in his 2005 article for New York Times regarding his book mentioned above, Friedman used China’s reference but not India’s.
Thomas L Friedman authored a book titled ‘The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century’ in 2005. However, in this book in the context of describing what his advice would be to his daughters in the light of globalization and growing competition from Indians and Chinese, Friedman wrote ‘Girls, when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, Tom, finish your dinner people in China and India are starving. My advice to you is : Girls, finish your homework, people in China and India are starving for your jobs’.
From his book, it is evident that Friedman’s reference in the context of growing competence of Indians for American jobs is exaggerated and shared as ‘Indian children would become CEO’s and make Americans starve.’
Further, there have been many instances when Friedman commented on India on various aspects ranging from economy to democracy. However, he did not make any such comments as claimed in the post.
To sum it up, Thomas Friedman’s reference to growing competence of  Indians is exaggerated in this post.