Monday, November 07, 2011

Will Dropouts Save America?

Michael Ellsberg has an interesting column in the NY Times.  He askes Will Dropouts Save America?  His column starts with:

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I TYPED these words on a computer designed by Apple, co-founded by the college dropout Steve Jobs. The program I used to write it was created by Microsoft, started by the college dropouts Bill Gates and Paul Allen.


And as soon as it is published, I will share it with my friends via Twitter, co-founded by the college dropouts Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams and Biz Stone, and Facebook — invented, among others, by the college dropouts Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, and nurtured by the degreeless Sean Parker.


American academia is good at producing writers, literary critics and historians. It is also good at producing professionals with degrees. But we don’t have a shortage of lawyers and professors. America has a shortage of job creators. And the people who create jobs aren’t traditional professionals, but start-up entrepreneurs.
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Michael makes several interesting points.  For example in reference to a recent study he says most jobs are not created at small businesses, but at small businesses with are startups.  Old businesses which happen to be small are not creating lots of new jobs.  The new jobs are created by small businesses which are young.

He points out how traditiona public schools discourage students from become entrepreneurs. 

It would be interesting to see how the percentage of homeschoolers who become entrepreneurs compares to those from government schools.

Hat tip: Pat Farenga.

2 comments:

Christie L Shaw said...

I love this post! My three children did public school and home school. They are all awesome adults. One went to college and dropped out, is well known in the computer industry. One finished college and is a Veterinarian. The third one is working on his third degree in Chinese Medicine. Public school was a drag!

Henry Cate said...

That is wonderful. It is always nice to read about successful homeschoolers.