"Lack of Formal Education"

There are many persons who feel that they don't have an opportunity to succeed in life because, for some reason or another, they did not complete high school or college. It's lucky for men like Ford, Edison, Wanamaker, Kaiser, Duke, Leterman and Frain, that they didn't feel the same way about it. That a refined, classical education is desirable all will admit; that it is indispensably necessary does not follow.

With but a meager education, John Wanamaker went on to become a wealthy merchant prince. The world's greatest inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, didn't use the excuse that an almost total lack of formal education, would bar him from success in life. With only a few months of grammar schooling, Edison proved that a lack of formal education need not keep one from becoming the very tops in his chosen field.

Henry J. Kaiser left school at the age of eleven to take a job. He had been born of poor parents and now, seemingly, had two strikes against him. At least, many others in similar circumstances would have two choice excuses for not succeeding in life. Not Kaiser—he went on to become one of the greatest builders in America. He not only built a billion dollar industrial empire, but even more important—he built a great character. He was a man! Few men of his great wealth can claim such character.

Millionaire Andy Frain left school in the eighth grade. Millionaire Elmer G. Leterman, who has written over fifty million dollars worth of life insurance, left school at the age of I4 to go to work for twelve dollars a week. Robert Dollar, lumber king and steamship owner, left school at twelve. James B. Duke, the tobacco king, had scanty schooling. Rockefeller never graduated from high school. George Eastman, Henry Ford, F. W. Woolworth—each received very moderate amounts of school education.

Successful lives do not come about as a result of chance, luck, accident, or good fortune. Success is uninhabitable. Success is born out of applied knowledge, or more accurately—wisdom. For many years our educational system served primarily as a great dispensary of information. Nowhere in the academic curriculums of our grammar schools, high schools, colleges, or even great universities, did we learn the fundamental principles of success in life. Nowhere were we taught how to use the tremendous untapped potential of the human mind. This has been the missing-link of our educations system.

Formal education in America today has been giver new life, new direction. Our leading educators are beginning to recognize that there is no surer way along the road to success in life than to follow in the footsteps of those who have successfully journeyed before us. As our modern reflective thinkers in education move forward to bridge the gap of education's missing-link, formal education becomes increasingly meaningful for the student.

If you are now in school, stay in school. If you missed the advantages of a formal education and cannot get back in school, embark at once upon a program of self education instead of resorting to the tedious and uncertain process of trial and error. I have illustrated the fact that many have achieved success in this manner, but as Lincoln, Carnegie, Kaiser, and others like them would have us know, the price you must pay is many difficult months and years of study on your own. Don't let the lack of a formal education prevent you from achieving great heights of successful achievement. It is only an excuse that some use to justify their remaining in the ruts of life. It is never a legitimate reason.