Intellectually Respected High School Dropouts

Generally people assume high school dropouts as being doomed to failure but history has shown many exceptions to this. In fact, many of these ‘exceptions’ have helped shape the very world we live in. The formal education system doesn’t suit everyone and some exceptional and curious minds have found greater intellectual success outside of the rigid and structured environment of the classroom. Here are some:

Hiram Stevens Maxim

Hiram Stevens is an American-born engineering inventor who invented the first portable machine gun and the still-used mousetrap. Stevens had no formal education and spent a majority of the early part of his life as an apprentice coachbuilder.

Stevens was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1901.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Anton van Leeuwenhoek revolutionized the way microscopes were made. Anton discovered a rather simple way of fashioning glass lenses which could view substances at the microbial level. The Dutchman was the first to observe the existence of bacteria, blood cells, spermatozoa, muscle fibers and capillaries.

In a clever effort to cement his name in the annals of history, Anton made it appear that the actual simple creation of the lenses was an effort that required expert knowledge and was a painstakingly long process that needed many weeks of grinding. This, of course, worked which is why today Anton van Leeuwenhoek is known as the ‘Father of microbiology’.

Mary Lyon

Mary Lyon was an American women’s education pioneer. She founded America’s first women’s college ‘Mount Holyoke College’. Mary dropped out of school at the age of 13 and wouldn’t return until the age of 17, this time as a teacher.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison only received 3 months of formal education and spent the rest of his time being home schooled by his mother. Edison struggled with hearing problems which hampered his formal school days. Edison founded 14 companies including the still existing small business know as General Electric company.

Edison is best known for the invention of the electric light bulb, motion picture camera and the phonograph.

H.G. Wells

Well known author H.G. Wells spent the majority of his youth outside of school and in apprenticeships. As an escape, Wells would spend his free time reading books his father took out from the library. This helped spur his interest in creative writing. H.G. Wells would later return to school and become a teacher himself. He later authored famous works like The Time Machine, War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man.

Herman Melville

Herman Melville, author, adventurer and teacher, was also a notable dropout. Melville’s father sent Herman and his brother to the New York Male School but the two were forced to withdraw due to their father’s financial constraints. Herman’s most notable work was Moby Dick, a book often referred to as one of the ‘greatest works in the English language’.

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell is best known for his scathing criticisms on the oddly popular show American Idol. What many people don’t know is that he’s a high school dropout that got his start in the mailroom at EMI Records. Cowell went on to create his own independent music label called E&S Music which would see its demise a year later.

Cowell later returned to EMI only to leave again with fellow mail room clerk Lain Burton to form Fanfare Records. Cowell now makes an estimated 54£ million dollars (90 million USD)

James H. Clark

James Clark is the founder of the internet company Netscape and co-creator of the web browser Mosaic. Clark has earned a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in physics, and then a PhD in computer science. Though Clark had experienced academic success later in his life, he was would first find himself as a high school dropout.

Clark left high school to join the Navy after having being suspended. Clark remained in the Navy for 4 years before returning to school where he accrued enough credits in Tulane University to gain admission to the University of Orleans.

Philip Emeagwali

Philip Emeagwali is a supercomputer scientist born in Nigeria. Emeagwali was forced to leave school to join the army during the Nigerian-Biafran war. Emeagwali later completed a high school equivalency once the war had ended. After emigrating from Nigeria to the States, Emeagwali earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering at George Washington University.

Philip Emeagwali won the George Bell Prize in the “Price/Performance” category for his CM-2 application which processed oil-related seismic data. This award and subsequent grants have pushed his career in ways he couldn’t have imagined.