Yes, But How Would He Score On Standardized Tests?

From the NY Times:

When David Karp was 14, he was clearly a bright teenager. Quiet, somewhat reclusive, bored with his classes at the Bronx High School of Science. He spent most of his free time in his bedroom, glued to his computer. 

But instead of trying to pry him away from his machine or coaxing him outside to get some fresh air, his mother, Barbara Ackerman, had another solution: she suggested that he drop out of high school to be home-schooled. 

“I saw him at school all day and absorbed all night into his computer,” said Ms. Ackerman, reached by phone Monday afternoon. “It became very clear that David needed the space to live his passion. Which was computers. All things computers.” 

Clearly. 

Now 26 years old, Mr. Karp never finished high school or enrolled in college. Instead, he played a significant role in several technology start-ups before founding Tumblr, the popular blogging service that agreed to be sold to Yahoo for $1.1 billion this week. With an expected $250 million from the deal, Mr. Karp joins a tiny circle of 20-something entrepreneurs, hoodie-wearing characters like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley, who have struck it rich before turning 30. 

It's interesting how the culture mythologizes the school dropouts who make it big in tech - from Gates to Jobs to Karp.

Yet the same culture promotes a one size school system for all that clearly Gates and Jobs and Karp and other so-called "geniuses" can't work with.

I think it's even more interesting that so many of these tech entrepreneurs promote the one size fits all school system through their philanthropic efforts.

No one has done this more than Gates.

Zuckerberg is joining that movement.

And Karp tells the Times "He intends to 'figure out something' with philanthropy."

Don't be surprised if this Bronx High School of Science dropout doesn't join his fellow techies in promoting a one size fits all school system for everybody else.