<p>My son dropped out of colLege after one semester. We agreed to let him take some time to travel to India, but he stayed much longer than we were comfortable with. He is finally back home, but is experimenting with drugs and spending all his time in our garage tinkering around with what appears to be junk. What should we do?</p>
<p>Mrs. Jobs</p>
<p>(Can you imagine the response Steve Jobs' mom would have gotten here on CC?) </p>
<p>May we all have faith in our children to figure out their own lives, and to find success in their own time.</p>
<p>You do know he passed away today? But you are right - everyone has to find their own path in their own way - and the typical super-achiever CC mentality is not necessarily right for everyone.</p>
<p>New book, The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late. NPR intrviewed the author today, Michael Ellsberg. I didn’t hear it all, but the point includes street smarts, not book smarts. Getting attention, but I have not looked at it yet.</p>
<p>On TV tonight they were saying that he was adopted and that he had gone to Syria (I think) to meet he birth mother. This would make for an interesting study on genetics versus childhood environment…</p>
<p>I did know that he passed away today. I read some biographical info in this evening’s news reports, and all I could think was, “Bless his parents” for having faith in what their son was doing during those early years when there wasn’t a blueprint to follow.</p>
<p>Are you suggesting there is something in the genetic makeup of Syrian people that makes them different from the rest of the world, or incapable of technological innovation?</p>
<p>OP…No “blue print” for being a good parent, however, they raised a good man. A reminder of encouraging our children to follow their passion-to be wild-wacky-free to explore who they are-and how they might make the world a better place. For some it will be working in a lab, for others on a Broadway stage-ALL have value. And, if pursued from the heart, then it becomes a passion and not drudgery.
I did not “learn” this until I left everything I knew…and traveled on my own around the world. I am going to guess my DD will find her path, her passion, and in so doing, will truly live to make this world a better place for having her living in this moment. It may be what she is doing now…time will tell.
~APOL-a Mum</p>
<p>Just curious, is this your son that was the “AP Scholar with Distinction, 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.6 weighted GPA, 35 overall ACT score, 2250 SAT score, 780 Math II SAT”?</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh wait, nevermind. This is a parody thread. I think it’s great that Steve Jobs had the capability to succeed. But let’s face it, most people won’t be Steve Jobs. He was probably born so that no matter what he did in life or his circumstances, he would have the capability of being a successful person. However, that mean it isn’t fair to compare him to the thousands of other dropouts who stay in garages. And just because Steve Jobs did drugs doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for anybody else to do drugs either. In all, this thread is a ridiculous comparison.</p>
<p>Also, now that I think about it, Steve Jobs dropped out of college due to financial reasons and continued to attend classes afterward and struggled to do so. So this thread makes no sense at all.</p>
<p>^ IMO, this thread is for all the parents who fuss and fret and worry about their kids’ seeming lack of direction. Or, their kids’ multiple conflicting directions. It’s about a little bit of letting go and trying to have faith in our kids- in a context that makes it hard to do so. It’s not a parody. We know his life isn’t a formula for all. But, we need a chance to marvel at what he brought us, the family that somehow encouraged him. </p>
<p>Each generation has men and women who serve as inspirations. Let us remember him with admiration- even if our kids do need to be nagged.</p>
<p>You need to have been born precisely in 1955. Two years earlier, you might have ended up dead in Viet Nam. Two years later, and you missed the train.</p>
<p>“The greatest lesson from Jobs’ career is to keep the doors open for people like him…It needs to have opportunities for an adopted child raised by a working class family. It needs to have second chances for people who drop out of college. It need not cast out someone who would take LSD and travel to India to become a Buddhist.”. Seattle Times Editorial August 25, 2011</p>