Monday, June 8, 2015

My Favorite Education Stories

All education is self-education

My grandfather was born in 1886.  He was homeschooled and worked on the family farm in Illinois until he was age 11.  He then got a job just across the river at a factory in St. Louis to earn money to hire a science tutor.  At age 16 he applied to Barnes Medical College and was accepted. He graduated 1st in his class at age 19 and was hired to be their first Professor of Internal Medicine. He also entered Surgical Residency.

My second favorite story is about a guy I knew from high school. He, like some, didn’t go to college. I ran into him 10 years later. He was hosting a dinner at a hotel for his 300 customers and their wives. After high school, he went to work pulling fenders in a junk yard. He thought there had to be a better way to improve efficiency for customers. He learned that telex machines could enable him to set up a better system.  He talked telex into lending him their machines and signed up his bosses.  He published his phone number and went out to call on other junk yards. With his system, a customer could call one number and the order was sent to all member junk yards. The first one to respond back got the order. He became another millionaire who never went to college.

These stories are true and they illustrate the fact that the best education can be self-education.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader

 

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