No. of Recommendations: 11
I agree with IP 100%.
As a small child (4-6 years old), I would watch "The Modern Farmer" religiously each morning at about sunrise. I planted my "farm" in a small plot behind our house, but probable would have aced any 4H society quiz.
While I was in elementary school, depending on the year, I attended either weekend or summer programs at local colleges in ancient Greek culture and history (at Brooklyn College), and astronomy (at NYU). During high school, I spent a summer at Carnegie Mellon (studying electrical theory and computer programing courtesy of the National Science Foundation). By the time I had graduated college,(night-school electrical engineering), ignoring the seasonal snow-shoveling gigs as a kid, I held jobs as a tuxedo rental salesman, worked on an assembly line (Lightalarms emergency lighting), graphic artist, machinist and (most importantly) electrician.
While growing up, my mother was perennially taking master's degrees (she ended up with three) and would both read her liberal arts books (anthropology, art history, etc.) as well as introduce me to techniques from her art studies ranging from etching to pottery to silk screening, etc., not to mention taking me to museums on a regular basis.
We my kid sister WendyBG, I was taught advanced value investing when I was about 11 years old by our grandmother.
I always liked science, and went to a STEM high school school on steroids. Besides the run-of-the-mill AP stuff, we also ended up with four years of machine shop, pattern making, foundry, metallurgy, electrical theory, computer programming (the school had the first computer terminal in a NYC high school), four years of assorted technical drawing and so on. As an example of the school's innovative approach, my third year of French was taught from a French high school physics textbook.
Along the way I also accumulated an MBA (in management), a master electrician's license and a professional engineer license.
So, why bother listing the above CV? I can honestly say that, at some point or other, every one of the items I listed above was instrumental in a decision, discussion, invention, etc. in later life. I absolutely believe that the broader the field that you are exposed to, the more likely you will find an analog as a novel solution in a different field. While there may be an advantage to getting a job by acquiring the appropriate college degree, your success in that job is more likely to be dependent on you previous experience. In my case, I decided that if I was going to compete, I wanted it to be at a casino table I owned - and became a serial entrepreneur before it was fashionable.
Jeff
