The Education of Millionaires

There are a few notable things that I feel Michael Ellsberg gets right in his book The Education of Millionaires, and at least one glaring thing he gets strikingly wrong.

First, he is right that there is a huge gulf between what people learn in college and what is actually "useful" in "the real world".  In fact, I would say that both employers and college graduates are equally frustrated when having to confront this fact.  After all, employers have to devote resources just to bringing new graduates up to speed with the demands of industry, while new graduates suddenly feel disillusioned about what they didn't learn after four or five years in school.

Second, he is also right that a college education is not for everyone, nor is it a guarantee of future success.  Personally, I've always felt that the notion that college must be a rite of passage that kids go through is part of the reason why "learning" has become so credentials-based.  Just because someone takes up sixty units in accounting does not mean s/he will be any good as an accountant; it just means that s/he has taken up sixty units of accounting.  Moreover, it is equally true that some people will get more out of getting practical experience in a specific field rather than sticking it out in college -- in much the same way that some people need the sort of structure that college provides before venturing out into the real world.

Third, I appreciate the way he approaches the book to make these points.  In the Education of Millionaires, Ellsberg interviews various millionaires, many of whom never finished college, to explore the secrets to their success.  This, necessarily, is a delicate balancing act, and for the most part I feel that Ellsberg succeeds in not glamorizing the fact that college dropouts can be massively wealthy and incredibly successful.  He acknowledges, for instance, that luck has plenty to do with these outcomes, or their personal qualities, or the opportunities and experiences that they had which prompted them to drop out of college.  So in this regard, I think Ellsberg's treatment is fair, for the most part.

Accordingly, my sense is that The Education of Millionaires is a book that kids graduating high school or already in college should read, if only to open their eyes and make them think more carefully about what they expect to get out of the education they're receiving.  I would even go so far as to say that Ellsberg's writing style is particularly directed towards such an audience, with his penchant for talking about himself (arguably too much) and his use of occasionally, shall we say, colorful language.

However, I must say that I object to what seems to me the underlying premise of the book: that a college education is useless if it does not prepare graduates for the jobs/careers/opportunities that await them.

I will grant that he has a point when he writes (in so many words, and later in the book) that the mantra of "education for education's sake" rings rather hollow if the person being educated simply is not in a position to put food on the table.  I get that.  But at the same time, I would argue simply that no one -- college graduate and drop out alike -- is ever truly prepared for what lies ahead for them. Instead, life is all about being less unprepared, and for many people, college serves this purpose, even if what they learn may not seem of direct relevance at the time.

In my rather simplistic worldview, I've always felt that grade school prepares a person for high school, high school prepares a person for college, and college prepares a person for life.  Indeed, now, more than ever, I think this is true, and that the deck is stacked against undergraduates.  Why will a company risk hiring a person without a college degree, when there are so many graduates waiting in the wings in need of work? The answer: only if they are truly exceptional.

But at the end of the day, who ever said that just because you go to college you are guaranteed a good job, or a promising career?  Ellsberg rails against this for much of the book, and no matter how thoughtful, funny, and occasionally inspiring The Education of Millionaires is, on this score I feel it misses the point.  Ultimately, an education -- like life itself --  is what a person makes of it, and that is perhaps the most important lesson someone need to learn, whether in the hallowed halls of a University or out there in the school of hard knocks.

[This review is based on a pre-publication proof obtained through NetGalley.]