Harold Jarche » Where would we be without school drop outs?

Harold reminds us that school dropouts are can achieve great things:

Bill Gates – Microsoft
Steve Jobs – Apple
Michael Dell – Dell
Larry Ellison – Oracle
Mike Lazaridis – Blackberry
Shawn Fanning – Napster

Repeatedly, when I bring this argument about to explain why I think a full college education is far from a necessary thing, people tell me that these people are special cases. Are they really? Or are they the most famous ones?

I think there is a reason why greatness and dropouts go well together. People who don’t fit the mold are more likely to go out and break molds later on… and trying to fit is the best way to be “average.”

Myself, though I have a Ph.D. and other degrees, from good schools, I will not push, in any way, my sons to go get a college education. There are far better things a 20 years old can do rather than sit on a bench listening to a college professor. Oh! You have to listen to the smart folks, but if you don’t go out and build things, it is all for naught.