SCOTS schoolchildren should have lessons on Andrew Carnegie, says businessman Sir Tom Hunter.
The entrepreneur and former richest man in Scotland said the life of Carnegie should be used to inspire today's generations.
Carnegie, the Fife-born industrialist and philanthropist, emigrated to the US in 1835 when he was 13, amassed a huge fortune in the steel industry, and gave £3bn to charity. Sir Tom, Scotland's first ever home-grown billionaire, wants to know why Scottish children are not taught about Carnegie.
Speaking at the launch of the second Carnegie Day in Dumfermline, Fife, he said: "His story deserves to be told and to be understood.
"People do not choose to be born into poverty, or born with no opportunity," he said. "Carnegie believed in, and I support the view, that opportunity should prevail for all, for all those working to get on the ladder themselves.
Carnegie only had four years of formal education, but he grew up in a family which believed in the importance of learning. His first job, aged 13, was working in a cotton mill for £0.76 a week.
He went on to become the richest man in the world, but gave away most of his income, famously saying: "The main who dies rich dies in disgrace."
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