Education Does Count
比尔·盖茨 / Bill Gates
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 college since that’s what I did.
A smaller number of parents send messages， often poignant， seeking guidance for their son or daughter. “How can we steer our child toward success？” 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.
Kathy Cridland， a sixth grade teacher in Ohio， wrote to say， “Several of my students claim that you never finished high school. Since you are a success， my students perceive that as a reason not to care much about getting a good education.”
I finished high school！
The computer industry has lots of people who didn’t finish college， but I' m not aware of any success stories that began with somebody dropping out of high school. I actually don't know any high school dropouts， let alone any successful ones.
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 our 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.