Patrick Bet-David - Drop Out And Get Schooled

The purpose of this book is NOT to declare that higher education is a terrible thing. Its absolutely not. BUT, learning can and does take place in many forms. I've read 1,200 books in the last 15 years and understand firsthand that you CAN educate yourself. Many entrepreneurs do so and go on to make a very real impact in their part of an industry sector, or a massive impact that changes the world itself.

There are important professions that require a formal education such as medicine. I praise God for the skilled cardiologists that attended whatever university that would have them and studied under whichever faculty that trained them to perform miraculous heart procedures such as the one that saved my dads life. There is no debate that a college education is vital to certain specialized professions, particularly those in science and medicine. Also, I join my fellow Americans who certainly dont want a self-taught nuclear physicist building a new bomb for the military, especially if the lab is in our town. Those professions require not only a college education but sufficient time to sober-up following the college experience itself.

But is a trip to college vital to ALL professions? No way!

Before I go any further, I am compelled to step back and make an important point about high school. Never, never, never, never, never drop out of high school or take the GED (General Equivalency Diploma). Did I say NEVER? A high school is a place for young people to develop core skills intellectually and relationally. Its also an accomplishment to be celebrated. High school dropouts are four times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed. Thus, stopping the formal educational process, even at a horrible public school in some troubled downtown area, is something I am against with every bit of emphasis that I can muster.

Those first 18 years are a time of critical personal development, and the maturing process doesnt stop at 18. For example, our government (run by a drunken legislature if recent newspaper headlines are any indication) believes young people should not be permitted to drink until they are 21 thats three more years after graduating high school at 18. But the same legislature thinks that an 18-year-old is old enough to go to war and use multi-million-dollar machinery to kill people you dont know but apparently not old enough to sit around and have a beer afterward and talk about the people you just killed. Think about that one for a moment. On second thought, dont. Where was I?

I am compelled to initiate a dialogue about college and the uniquely personal decision-making process that each person must undertake before they make a final decision. So, lets talk about WHO should go to college and WHO should think twice about it as well as WHY dropping out is the right choice for some people. Most importantly, we will examine HOW to process all of those questions in the first place. As you will see, I am going to pull in articles, blogs and opinions as well as present my point of view in an attempt to start an honest dialogue.

Sound processing leads to a good decision and that, my friends, IS the purpose of this book.

Lets begin the journey.

- PBD