Fourteen years ago, I wrote a piece for the Back to School issue entitled “How to Be a Dropout.” The gist of the article was, in effect, that dropping out of college is not only not the end of the world, but it can actually help lead you into a more interesting, intentional life.
Some highlights:
Like many of you, I had it drilled into my skull from a very early age that a university degree was the only hope a person had of succeeding in the world. Without it, the best you could look forward to was ditch digging, dissolution, and despair.
I believed this when I applied to a half-dozen colleges. I believed it when I got into every college I applied to. And you can bet your sweet life that I believed it when I dropped out of college for the first time. I may have even believed it when I dropped out of college for the second time.
Truth to tell, some small part of me may still believe it. But the rest of me understands that it’s a hoary myth, a lie we tell young people because we need to believe there is a formula for succeeding in life. There isn’t—because success is not a high-paying job, nor a house, nor a family, nor a car, nor a diploma, nor fame, nor wealth. Success is the rare gift of living the way you want to live. That doesn’t mean living without sacrifice or compromise; it means living without so much sacrifice and compromise that you become incapable of joy.
