Gates: Education does count
Hundreds of students send me e-mail each year asking for advice about education. They want to know what to study, or whether it’s OK to drop out of college1 since that’s what I did.
A smaller number of parents send message, often poignant2, seeking guidance for their son or daughter. “How can we steer out child toward success3” they ask.
My basic advice is simple and heartfelt. “Get the best education you can. Take advantage of high school and college. Learn how to learn.”
It’s true that I dropped out of college to start Microsoft, but I was at Harvard for three years before dropping out — and I’d love to have the time to go back. As I’ve said before, nobody should drop out of college unless they believe they face the opportunity of a lifetime. And even then they should reconsider.
In my company’s early years, we had a bright part-time programmer who threatened to drop out of high school to work full-time. We told him no.
Quite a few of out people didn’t finish college, but we discourage dropping out.
Having a diploma certainly helps somebody who is looking to us for a job.
College isn’t the only place where information exists. You can learn in a library. But somebody handing you a book doesn’t automatically foster learning. You want to learn with other people, ask questions, try out ideas and have a way to test your ability. It usually takes more than just a book.
Education should be broad, although it’s fine to have deep interests, too.
In high school there were periods when I was highly focused on writing software, but for most of my high school years I had wide-ranging academic interests4. My parents encouraged this, and I’m grateful that they did.
Although I attended a lot of different kinds of classes in college, I signed up for5 only one computer class the whole time. I read about all kinds of things.
One parent wrote me that her 15-year-old son “lost himself in the hole of the computer.” He got an A in Web site design, but other grades were sinking, she said.
This boy is making a mistake. High school and college offer you the best chance to 后面的省略