Parents part of the Problem

[atrdriver]

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard.

I'm doing my Ph.D. studies right now and let me tell you: school's not for everyone. While I do not advocate the excuse of "it is hard and it does not interest me" as a reason to drop out, one must recognize that school is not the magical outlet that provides you with a good life. Examples above and below prove that. How many members here lack having a four year degree but are doing fine?

The kid did a dumb thing. His parents admit that it was dumb. Furthermore, they say that they "don't want him to get out of this". Why are you blaming the parents?

No, school certainly isn't the "magic pill" that will ensure that you have a fine life. But, you have a much better chance of being able to make a reasonable living in this country if you are educated. Ask some hiring managers how they feel about reading resumes from people that can't spell, can't put a sentence together, etc. And for every Bill Gates there are probably thousands who end up on welfare, or in jail.

 

[100LL... Again!]

Public school is a necessary hoop to jump through. It is mostly worthless. I got good grades, but still think it was a waste of time. Most of the valuable knoweldge I got was from self study.

 

[Phoenix45]

Just food for thought… The below all did not finish highschool, and look what they accomplished. I left out many of the earlier names (franklin, Edison, Washington, Lincoln, etc) due to the fact that many were home-schooled back then:

Orville & Wilbur Wright: Aviation pioneers; Congressional Gold Medal recipients
Albert Einstein: Nobel Prize-winning physicist; "Time" magazine's "Man of the Century" (20th century) After dropping out of high school, he studied on his own and passed the entrance exam, on his second try, to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
John D. Rockefeller Sr.: Self-made billionaire American businessman-philanthropist; co-founder of "The Standard Oil Company;" history's first recorded billionaire. Dropped out of high school two months before graduation; took business courses for ten weeks at Folsom Mercantile College [a chain business school]
Henry Ford: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; assembly-line auto manufacturing pioneer; founder of the "Ford Motor Company"
Dave Thomas: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder-spokesperson of the "Wendy's" fast-food restaurant chain (Earned equivalency diploma)
Andrew Carnegie: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman and philanthropist (elementary school dropout)
"Colonel" Harlan Sanders: Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder-spokesperson of the "Kentucky Fried Chicken/KFC" fast-food restaurant chain. Elementary school dropout; later earned a correspondence course law degree.
Samuel L. Clemens ("Mark Twain"): Best-selling American author and humorist. Elementary school dropout.
George Eastman: Self-made multimillionaire American inventor; founder of the "Kodak" roll film camera, corporation, and chemical company
Ray Kroc: Self-made billionaire American businessman; founder of the "McDonald's" fast-food restaurant chain
John Major: British Prime Minister 1990-1997
William Faulkner: Nobel Prize-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author; screenwriter. Dropped out of high school in second year; later attended University of Mississippi but did not graduate.
William Faulkner; Failed to graduate from high school.
H.G. Wells: Dropped out to of high school (he later went on to finish and went to college)
Jim Clark self-made billionaire American businessman; founder of "Netscape"; first Internet billionaire - high School drop out .
Jimmy Dean singer-songwriter-actor; self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder of the "Jimmy Dean Foods" brand sausage business – high school drop out.
Andrew Jackson 7th U.S. President – Self educated
Walter L. Smith: Former president of Florida A&M University – Earned equivilancy degree
W. Clement Stone: Self-made multimillionaire (some sources indicate billionaire) American businessman-author; founder of "Success" magazine (elementary school dropout; later attended high-school night courses and then some college)
Jack London: Best-selling American author (dropped out of high school at 14 to work; later gained admission to the University of California; left after one semester)

 

[FN FAL]

But, you have a much better chance of being able to make a reasonable living in this country if you are educated. Ask some hiring managers how they feel about reading resumes from people that can't spell, can't put a sentence together, etc.

So true. In high school, I did take a radio-communications/electronics vo-tech course. The information has helped me to this day.

In my Associate degree schooling back in the 80's, we had to take a course called technical communication. The text book was called, "Writing for the world of work".

I have been doing resumes on my own, ever since. The first ones were on an old manual "olympia" typewriter, that only had cursive type set. In the late 80's I moved up to a Brother stand alone word processor, now it's MS Word all the way on the PC (Bill Gates enters the conversation again!).

 

[Traderd]

Parents allowed kid to drop out of high school. But it's okay. He earned his "GED". I know, I know. In some areas, this is normal -- but it shouldn't be.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/gwinnett/1005/19metpilot.html

I flew snakes for a while and I can't help but laugh when I see a gun bunny talking education! I don't mean to imply that you are uneducated and I do believe education is a good thing, not to be dismissed lightly. But I can recall a lot of darts being thrown in many different crew rooms and there was rarely any intellectual banter thrown about. Unless of course one considers discussions centered around the probability that on any given night, any given stripper "wants me" to be intellectual banter. When I last flew a Cobra to a static display (at a high school) the 1LT with me actually asked one of the guidance counselors "How much for the little girl!"


[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]"Diplomas? We ain't got no diplomas. We don't need no diplomas. I don't have to show you any stinking diploma!" With apologies to John Huston and Humphrey Bogart [/FONT]

 

[GoingHot]

I flew snakes for a while and I can't help but laugh when I see a gun bunny talking education! I don't mean to imply that you are uneducated and I do believe education is a good thing, not to be dismissed lightly. But I can recall a lot of darts being thrown in many different crew rooms and there was rarely any intellectual banter thrown about. Unless of course one considers discussions centered around the probability that on any given night, any given stripper "wants me" to be intellectual banter. When I last flew a Cobra to a static display (at a high school) the 1LT with me actually asked one of the guidance counselors "How much for the little girl!"

You got me there Traderd. No shortage of Retards among Army Aviators.

 

[Dumbluck]

If everybody was educated, who would listen to country music?

 

[FL000]

If everybody was educated, who would listen to country music?

Trick question...there would be no one to make it, so no one would listen to it.

 

[Dumbluck]

nice, the only correct answer

 

[atrdriver]

Just food for thought… The below all did not finish highschool, and look what they accomplished. I left out many of the earlier names (franklin, Edison, Washington, Lincoln, etc) due to the fact that many were home-schooled back then:

Very true, but many of those names are from times past as well. Simple fact is that very few people who drop out of school will go on to be household names. Most will end up working menial jobs at best. I don't have facts to back it up, but I'd bet that the majority of those in our county jail are high school dropouts.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I think he still qualifies to work at a Regional Airline though.

 

[atrdriver]

I think he still qualifies to work at a Regional Airline though.

If you're breathing you qualify to work at a regional airline.

 

[Vector4fun]

Hey, hey, HEY! Don't be dissin' Patsy now.....

Patsy Cline is listed in the 2005 Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for having the record for the most weeks on the US Charts for an album by a female artist (of all genre): 722 weeks total, with 251 of them at # 1, with "Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits.

 

[FN FAL]

You got me there Traderd. No shortage of Retards among Army Aviators.

In '93, the Jacksonville Army recruiters we're all set to take me to lunch and start the paperwork. I'd have pvt-mei in the bag, prior service a big plus...not to mention, I had an associate degree. But as soon as they found out I was half a birthday too old...cancel the dinner reservations! They could "don't ask/don't tell" a gay guy, but age discrimination was in full effect! Woo-hah! They had me all in check!

 

[FN FAL]

Woo Hah!

Wal-Mart Heiress Returns USC Diploma

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Elizabeth Paige Laurie's name was on a sports arena when a former University of Southern California roommate alleged the Wal-Mart heiress paid her $20,000 to do her homework. Now it isn't even on a USC diploma.

Laurie, the granddaughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton, has returned her degree, nearly a year after Elena Martinez told ABC's "20/20" that she had written term papers and done assignments for Laurie for 3 1/2 years.

"Paige Laurie voluntarily has surrendered her degree and returned her diploma to the university. She is not a graduate of USC," the school said in a statement dated Sept. 30 but not widely disseminated until the school newspaper wrote about it late last week. "This concludes the university's review of the allegations concerning Ms. Laurie."

USC spokesman James Grant said Wednesday the university had no further comment. Laurie had been given a bachelor's degree by the USC Annenberg School for Communication in May 2004.

After the homework allegations surfaced last November, the University of Missouri changed the name of what was then Paige Sports Arena. Laurie's billionaire parents, Bill and Nancy Laurie, had received naming rights in exchange for donating $25 million toward the building's construction. Nancy Laurie is Walton's daughter.

A call seeking comment from Bill Laurie at his Paige Sports Entertainment company was not immediately returned. The family has repeatedly declined to comment on the cheating allegation.

Martinez has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment.

At the time of the "20/20" broadcast, Martinez said she dropped out of USC because she couldn't afford the tuition. She said she learned a great deal by doing Laurie's class work.