I'm a former NASA engineer responsible for much man-rated spaceflight hardware, I wrote software that helped get Viking to Mars, I wrote some best-seller programs in the 1980s and retired at the age of 35, and I'm a seventh-grade dropout.
This doesn't mean anyone can drop out and become successful. It means success and schooling aren't strongly correlated.
Not a stupid question at all. I would listen to Mark Twain, who said, "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Also consider the astonishing number of education-dropout billionaires:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_dropout_billion...
I'm a former NASA engineer responsible for much man-rated spaceflight hardware, I wrote software that helped get Viking to Mars, I wrote some best-seller programs in the 1980s and retired at the age of 35, and I'm a seventh-grade dropout.
This doesn't mean anyone can drop out and become successful. It means success and schooling aren't strongly correlated.