Briefly (because I'm watching Isaacson tell us what a crazy mofo and son of a bitch Steve Jobs was), I think that the subtext is not that colleges can or should produce millionaires/billionaires but rather millionaires/billionaires don't need college. The characteristics that make for very wealthy individuals may or may not make for good students -- the "reality distortion field" might get in the way. And having a single-mindedness determination may work well for some things (like trying to find a cure for cancer) but not for other beliefs. On the latter point, I think back to Kurt Vonnegut's book "Cat's Cradle" with the industrialist who is going to San Lorenzo to create a bicycle factory because the people there were so poor that they would put up with any sort of crap he dished out. As Vonnegut put it, the industrialist really believed that God put people on the earth to build bicycles for him. Such ideas might get in the way of a college education. One wonders how many people have relocated their businesses or opened businesses in China because (a) the people are desperate there and will put up with a lot, and (b) they believe that those people really are there to help them realize their dreams and ambitions (that is, the owners' dreams and ambitions). Perhaps even Steve Jobs was one of these.
-Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu P.S. A hippie who is into marketing? How wrong is that? --------------------- Original Message -------------------- On Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:31:36 -0700, Jim Clark wrote: Hi Although I have not read the book or the article (too far along the road of cynicism about USA politics and public dialogue already), I guess I never thought that we were trying to educate millionaires or billionaires. Surely every other statistic, economic and otherwise, would pretty much favour those who were more educated. I saw a brief allusion somewhere recently to the apparent fact that vocational education becomes even more of a fiscal liability as one gets older ... not that the future must be like the past, of course. On the other hand, it probably is the case that many millionaires require some uneducated and cheap labour in order to achieve their economic wealth or to spend it with the biggest bang for the buck, and if they can't get it cheap enough in their home country, they'll just find it somewhere else. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to draw together all the variables that are correlated with education or with parental education? Off the top of my head, here are a few ... educational achievement of one's children (passing all the benefits on to the next generation), attitudes toward various oft-stigmatized groups, being unemployed, income, some forms of mental illness, .... Unfortunately, people often look at the relationship between parental and child education in a negative light (i.e., advantaged being advantaged), without realizing that the parent (or their parent) may be the first of their lineage to advance to higher education. That is, education may be the gift that keeps on giving, even to future generations. I appreciate that correlation does not imply causation, but that applies as well, of course, to claims about millionaire dropouts (e.g., perhaps they dropped out because they saw a road to millionaire-hood) and surely one should not be excessively dismissive of relationships that appear to be robust and widespread, whatever the ultimate causal model. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca >>> "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu> 23-Oct-11 4:14:46 PM >>> There is an opinion piece in the NY Times by Michael Ellsberg that makes the case that college dropouts will save the U.S. because they are the true "job creators". The article can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/opinion/sunday/will-dropouts-save-america.html?pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB Ellsberg probably based the article on his currently popular book *The Education of Millionaires: It*s Not What You Think and It*s Not Too Late.* You can see the reviews and the reader comments up on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Education-Millionaires-What-Think-Portfolio/dp/1591844207 But all is not lost for academics. Vartain Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie corporation, wrote a review of the book in "Time" and makes the traditional argument for a "liberal arts" education in contrast to, say, vocational training or Ellsberg "entrepreneurial education" model. The book review can be read here: http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/21/the-myth-of-the-millionaire-college-dropout/ But before Tipsters start feeling good about being teachers of psychology, the Time website also has the "Top 10" best paid college majors and the worst college majors. The two lists can be found here: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2073703,00.html The worst paying major is described here: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2073703_2073654_2073673,00.html NOTE: This has been noted on TiPS previously. One gets the feeling that one is watching the end of an era. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=13609 or send a blank email to leave-13609-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
