Originally Posted by
Lummy
When I was in high school, on an airline trip, I sat next to a guy who at the time was, if I recall approximately, head of one of Boeing Aircraft Co's manufacturing segments. It might have been McDonnell-Douglas, given the era. I don't remember, but it isn't important. He told me a little about himself, that he had a family, made very good money -- approximately low six figures, and never went to college.
His story, one of success without a college degree has been echoed many times. You probably know at least one person who fits the description. Howard Hughes, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Ted Turner, Michael Dell, ... wait, I think there's a list ... OMG there is! Here's an actual list of some well-known, successful people who either never went to or never graduated from college:
1. Bill Gates
2. Thomas Edison
5. Richard Branson (didn't finish high school)
6. Lawrence J. Ellison
7. Michael Dell
8. Steve Jobs
9. Henry Ford
10. Walt Disney
11. Ray Kroc
12. Debbi Fields
13. Cosmos Maduka
14. Ingvar Kamprad
15. Carl Lindner
16. Simon Cowell
17. Mary Kay Ash
18. Coco Chanel
19. Wayne Huizenga
20. Barry Diller
21. Andrew Carnegie
22. Sir Philip Green
23. Madame C. J. Walker
24. Mark Zuckerberg
25. Ted Turner
26. Cornelius Vanderbilt
27. Mayer Amschel Rothschild
28. Ty Warner
29. Howard Hughes
30. Giorgio Armani
31. Asa Candler
32. Jenny Craig
33. Rachael Ray
34. Milton Hershey
35. Frank Lloyd Wright
36. David Geffen
You recognize at least a few of these for their monumental success and/or celebrity. They have been among titans of the US economy or otherwise hugely influential in American business. They are all rich, of course.
Their accomplishments had little or nothing to do with higher education and academia. Zero. So isn't it interesting how universities chase these people down and give them honorary degrees and of course money for recombinant associations with Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and yada yada.
With a good deal of fanfair and publicity, they are then "knighted" by the institution for lending their name for the prestige of the institution that in no way contributed to what they've done and with no chance of ever devising a recipe for a curriculum that will duplicate those achievements, as if that was possible.
It's celebrity association with the school for the school's bragging rights in the yearbook, in advertising, for endorsements, naming rights, promotions and whatever else is included. This is important. It's fake but important.
Anyway, this Boeing or M-D plant guy was head or director of a section or division of engineers with PhD's and Master's. I'm sorry but the details I've long-forgotten. These were well educated men, (men being exclusively what they were back then), highly intelligent men that knew their stuff but that couldn't lead a horse to water or coordinate a bar brawl, which is why the company created his position.
I had forgotten about him and what he told me until yesterday. Thank you Mister D and Calypso for bringing him to mind. It's all to suggest two things, it seems to me. For one, outside your own $#@!, your brains, knowledge and ability don't count for much and possibly nothing at all; and two, college is by no means a be-all to end-all, and in itself means very little. Stupid people who graduate from college usually remain stupid.
Kinda interesting.