More and more bright-eyed boys and gals dream of joining the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs – all of whom, apparently,left college to establish multi-billion dollar businesses that changed the world. Reading sensational stories about the success of such millionaire dropouts, students dream of dropping out of collegeprematurely. “They did it, why can’t we? Even Gates is a college dropout. Why go to college when Jobs could start Apple without a college degree”? Well dude, if these are the questions you are asking, you are asking the wrong questions! Because even Bill Gates doesn’t like being called a college dropout!
While Harvard Crimson labelled him “Harvard’s most successful dropout”, Bill Gates says, “It is strange to call me a college dropout in all but the most literal sense. I went for three years and took enough courses to graduate”. Gates was quite close to completing his graduation when the fear that somebody else will make a great computer before him made him leave college for good. He dropped out after reading about a new computer in a magazine. He says, “We were afraid if we waited, someone else would beat us to it. It was a hard decision and I know my parents had their concerns. And while I would never encourage anyone to drop out of school, for me, it turned out to be the right choice.” Bill Gates however does have a degree! He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree by Harvard.
Even Steve Jobs who dropped out of his college stayed around the college for a long time, dropping in for free in whichever class he found interesting! As for Zuckerberg, he never intended to drop out of Harvard either. In an interview, he said that when investor Peter Thiel approached him, he denied the offer saying that he had no intention of dropping out of college. Neither did he have much faith in Facebook. But rather than accepting what Mark had to say, Peter Thiel cut him his first big cheque and soon, Mark dropped out.
What youth need to know is that all these protégés already had successful ideas and prototypes at their hands before they dropped out. It is not education that they dropped out from though. They had the zeal to learn, whether in or out of college. To think that you can make it big by quitting college is certainly a foolish move, especially in today’s competitive market. Mark Zuckerberg recommends that youth should utilise their time in college and develop new interests. Even Bill Gates urges students to not quit college! In his blog, Gatesnotes, he writes, “College graduates are more likely to find a rewarding job, earn higher income, and even, evidence shows, live healthier lives than if they didn’t have degrees…It’s just too bad that we’re not producing more of them.”
Zuckerberg, Gates, and Jobs were able to achieve success without a college degree because they already had a set of skills and a functional set of ideas and product prototypes. For others, skipping college will only mean unemployment, credit and a bad quality of life. So before taking their example, stop and think!
0 comments:
Post a Comment