terrifying privileges and a sortable list of millionaire dropouts

today i enjoyed the terrifying privilege of presenting my research to the minnversity's provosts, deans, and named professors. when the too-kind emcee noted my chair duties, i said that i try to sell job candidates on the spectacularly good intellectual environment 'round here. as i see it, i might've cut a better deal some other place, but there's nowhere on earth where i would have been simultaneously pushed to do better work and indulged in my forays into more creative work.

in my view, faculty must be simultaneously pushed and indulged -- pushed to follow through on our boldest ideas, and indulged when we chase down our craziest blind alleys. pushing without indulgence leads to reams of meaningless publications and grants-for-grants' sake. indulgence without pushing leads to pretty much absolutely nothing.

during the talk, i thought back to how i nearly dropped out of high school. twice. the first time i hopped the 'hound to escape some pressing delinquency-related issues (dad eventually tracked me down and talked me back home). the second time i was offered a head cook position -- a pretty big promotion at the time -- at a robert street restaurant (dad said it sounded really good but that i might want to try college. thanks, dad).

all this got me thinking about high school and college dropouts. here's an inspirational list of millionaire dropouts, sortable by name (from roman abramovich to malcolm x), occupation, and degree. i never tell tor or esperanza that they need a college or a high school degree. instead, i explain that there's some really cool stuff in high school and college that they might want to check out. in my family, at least, the soft sell works best.