Hey another one of the "I was too different/intelligent for normal school", backed up by a TED Talk.<p>Here on HN we have one of these articles every week. I think that all of the "misfits" should acknowledge one thing: school is not for YOU it's for everybody to have "similar" chances in life.<p>Yes, yes you're all beautiful trouble makers with a mission to change the world. Now do things please.<p>Gosh I feel snarky today :)!
Here's to the Misfits?<p>Here's to the people who fit in. Here's to the people who try really hard but never quite get there. Here's to the people who don't fit in but always wanted to. Here's to the people who do the dirty jobs cos they they pay the bills and no-one else wants to. Here's to the underdog. Here's to the loser. Here's to the person who actually finishes their degree. Here's to the 50 year old who's still innovating. Here's to the 25 year old who isn't.<p>Different people are different. Let's celebrate all of them not just the chosen few from the subgroup we've marked out as "special" this year.
I know its hip to declare oneself a misfit and throw away the shackles of traditional academia, but what's the point of this post?<p>Being your 'weird self' means, by definition, that you have to be a misfit? Doesn't this imply than anyone who enjoyed or benefited from high school/college isn't being genuine? Am I missing something, or is this a puff piece for being offbeat?
When I look back at the younger people I've helped hire, the biggest success factor was not necessarily whether he/she had been dedicated to school, per se. It was more important that they had dedicated themselves to <i>something.</i> A good grade from a good school is a nice indicator of that dedication, but it isn't the only indicator. It doesn't matter if a person is a misfit in one or two areas, but someone that dropped out of everything they tried generally didn't perform well for us, either. Looking back, I suppose it meant that those people were still casting about for their true calling.
ATTN all those self-identifying as misfits at early stages of their career:<p>The reason you are not fitting properly may just be because you are being an asshole. Please be constantly aware of this fact as you go around imposing your special snowflakeness on everyone else.
if we were to follow the trend in software engineering/computer programming/technology companies, we want more doctors who drop out from medical school to be surgeons.
> <i>What the school didn’t tell admiring visitors though, is that the vast majority of those famous alumni had been expelled.</i><p>Would love to see a citation for that. From what I can see of the two examples given, one (Cleese) wasn't expelled and one (Le Carré) didn't go to the school that I presume he's talking about (Clifton College)?
Love that video, but I fault it because it doesn't include our own living legend Nelson Rohlihlahla Mandela. :( A true misfit who refused to accept the status quo.<p>And, in case you don't know, Rohlihlala in fact means "he who shakes the tree"! A name given to him at birth.<p>Talk about destiny!
<p><pre><code> Because they change the world.
</code></pre>
Which retroactively gets them assigned 'misfit' status, as a sort of honorary name. Franklin, Churchill, Einstein, Noether and Darwin, to name just a few, all weren't misfits. They were simply eminently capable people that believed in themselves. You don't need to be a misfit to achieve greatness and we don't need to call everyone that achieves greatness a misfit.