sociological, statistical, and common-sense
perspectives.
There are many notable people, who did not complete their formal
education, but
accomplished great things. Bill Gates, founder of the software
giant Microsoft, and the wealthiest person in the world, dropped out of
Harvard in his freshman year. His incredible rise to
prominence in the computer industry is testimony to the fact that formal
education is not synonymous with success. In fact, his phenomenal
knowledge of computers was not acquired in the structured environment of
the classroom. Instead, Gates pursued this interest after school
by studying the BASIC language from a manual with his friend Paul Allen,
helping a local company debug its computers, and designing computer
programs.
Many will dismiss Gates as an exceptional
individual, who may have
dropped out of college, but
excelled in high school before being accepted at Harvard. There
are, however, many other people who have reached the highest echelons
of their profession without even completing elementary school, let
alone high school. The following list offers a small sample of
the thousands of individuals who have achieved tremendous success in
their lives without completing their formal education:
• 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"
•
Walt Disney: Oscar-winning American
film/TV producer; animation and theme park pioneer; self-made
multimillionaire founder and spokesperson of "The Walt Disney
Studios/Company; "Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient;
Congressional Gold Medal recipient; French Legion of Honor
admittee/Medal recipient (received honorary high-school diploma from
hometown high school at age 58) •
Abraham Lincoln: 16th President of
the United States; (little formal education - Lincoln himself estimated
approximately one year; home schooling/life experience; later earned a
law degree through self study of books that he borrowed from friends)
•
Carl Sandburg: Pulitzer
Prize-winning American
author (little formal education; later passed entrance exam to
Lombard College and graduated)
•
Diana, Princess of Wales •
George Burns: Oscar-winning
actor/comedian (elementary school dropout)
•
Dave Thomas: Self-made
multimillionaire American businessman; founder-spokesperson of the
"Wendy's" fast-food restaurant chain (equivalency diploma)
•
Martin Van Buren:
8th President of the United States (little formal education;
began studying law at age 14 while an apprentice at a law firm, later
became a lawyer)
• Andrew Carnegie: Self-made
multimillionaire
American businessman and philanthropist (elementary school dropout)
•
John Chancellor: American
television journalist; evening news anchorman
•
"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)
•
Christopher Columbus: Italian
explorer (little formal education; home schooling/life experience; went
to sea in his youth) •
Davy Crockett: Early American
frontiersman; U.S. Congressman (Tennessee Representative); died at the
battle of the Alamo (little formal education - less than six months;
home schooling/life experience) •
Charles Dickens: Best-selling
British author (elementary school dropout)
•
Joe DiMaggio: National
Baseball Hall of Fame inductee; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
•
Sir Francis Drake: British
explorer; knighted in the United Kingdom (little formal education; home
schooling/life experience; went to sea in his youth)
•
George Eastman: Self-made
multimillionaire American inventor;
founder of the "Kodak" roll film camera, corporation, and chemical
company
• Thomas Edison: Self-made
multimillionaire, most famous and
productive
inventor of all time; invented the filament electric light bulb,
phonograph, and motion picture camera; electrical power usage pioneer;
Congressional Gold Medal recipient; knighted (France: bestowed the rank
of Chevalier, (had no formal education - home schooled)
•
Benjamin Franklin: American politician - diplomat -
author - printer - publisher-scientist - inventor; co-author and
co-signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; one of the founders
of The United States of America; face is pictured on the U.S.
one-hundred dollar bill (little formal education [less than two years];
home schooling/life experience) •
Clark Gable:
Oscar-winning actor •
George Gershwin:
Oscar-nominated and most celebrated American songwriter-and classical
composer; Congressional Gold Medal recipient
•
Amadeo Peter Giannini:
American-born founder of "Bank of America"
•
Cary Grant: Oscar-winning
actor
• W.T.Grant:
Self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder of
the "W.T. Grant Company" department store chain
•
H.L. Hunt: Self-made
billionaire American oil industrialist (elementary school dropout)
•
John Huston: Oscar-winning
American film director-actor (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The
Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, etc.) •
Elton John:
Oscar-winning songwriter-singer; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
inductee; knighted by the United Kingdom •
Andrew Jackson: 7th President
of the United States (no formal education; home schooling/life
experience)
• John Paul Jones: Scottish-born American Revolutionary
War U.S. navy commander; famous quote: "I have not yet begun to fight."
(little formal education; home schooling/life experience; went to sea
in his youth)
• Henry J. Kaiser: Self-made
multimillionaire
American
businessman; founder of "Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation,"
"Kaiser Steel," etc. •
Kirk Kerkorian: Self-made
billionaire
American businessman •
Ray Kroc: Self-made
billionaire American businessman; founder of the "McDonald's" fast-food
restaurant chain
• Jerry Lewis:
Actor-comedian-singer-entertainer-humanitarian; knighted (France:
Chevalier [or Chev.] Jerry Lewis) •
John Major: British Prime
Minister 1990-1997 •
William Shakespeare: British
playwright; best-selling British author •
George Bernard Shaw: Nobel
Prize-winning Irish-born British playwright; best-selling author
•
Frank Sinatra: Oscar-winning
actor-singer; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Congressional
Gold Medal recipient •
John Philip Sousa: American
composer-conductor (elementary school dropout)
•
Zachary Taylor:
12th President of the United States (little formal
education; home schooling/life experience) |
