I didn't mean to set BG and MZ up as role models. I just meant that some young people might see that as an excuse not to go to university, whatever their background. And, admittedly, those who do come from more privileged backgrounds are going to get ahead anyway. I think we reached a stage where most people thought the only way to achieve a desirable lifestyle is by getting a degree. But now there are a lot of people with degrees who are unemployed and we see other people without degrees who are making phenomenal amounts of money. So ... kids might not be so inclined to head to university. You and I can see that education is more than a piece of paper and a dream job but these kids are going to be concerned about more pressing matters I would think. You could become a plumber or electrician and be pretty comfortable.
I very much hope that people are smart enough to look at trends as a whole rather than looking at outliers from particular groups.
Yes, some college dropouts make a very large amount of money. Yes, some college graduates live in poverty.
on average college dropouts do considerably worse than college graduates.
Add to this the sheer number of professions that
require a degree, especially a vocational degree, and it becomes clear that Zuckerberg and Gates have very little bearing on the actual earning potential of your average college dropout/grad.
