Russell Simmons is without a doubt one of the biggest mac daddies of the hip-hop scene. Simmons dropped out of City College in New York at 20-years-old to pursue a career in producing after hearing Eddie Cheeba laying out some rhymes in an NYC club. Not only did he go on to co-found Def Jam records with Rick Rubin, but Simmons was instrumental in getting Run-DMC their big start. He negotiated a deal with MTV that saw the group becoming the first rap act to be seen on the channel — imagine life without ‘Tricky’. Yeah, didn’t think so. Simmons eventually supplemented his already hefty producing income by founding the clothing lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics. He is now reputedly the fourth-richest man in hip hop, with an estimated net worth of around $340 million. To put that in perspective: You know someone’s got their stuff together when an interviewer simply asks them, ‘what is cool?’

Steve Jobs

Who hasn’t heard of Steve Jobs? He began as a geeky boy, developing groundbreaking computer technology that even got Bill Gates’ “Microsoft” pretty excited. He left Apple for a span of years, only to return as the prodigal son to bring the company back out of the funk of its 1990s obscurity to the position of popularity it enjoys today. Jobs did it all with scarcely a college education, having completed a mere six months of his degree at Reed College due to financial difficulties. Today, Apple is a complete powerhouse of a company and one of the world’s most globally recognizable brands. It is responsible for a wide range of incredibly successful and popular products – Apple products occupy a significant part of the buyers market in a number of areas, from desktop computers, to laptops, to personal music players.

James Cameron

Who would have ever thought the (self-proclaimed) ‘King of the World’ would hail from a small town in Canada? James Francis Cameron was born in 1952 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, and vowed to break free of the confines of his milquetoast middle name at an early age. From the moment he saw Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey, Cameron knew he wanted to be a director. Not only did the film inspire Cameron’s filmmaking career – he modelled his personality after the oh-so-affable HAL 9000. Years later, when his father’s job forced his family to relocate to LA, Cameron’s desire to be a director reached fever pitch. He was so close to Hollywood, yet, without a licence to drive, he was still so far away. He began studying Physics at Fullerton College because of his interest in science, then, unhappy with his choice, changed to English. Finally, realizing that his true passions lay in neither of these two fields, he dropped out of college altogether. Today, Cameron is known as one of the most successful directors in the world, having directed the two highest grossing films of the modern era. His films have almost always played out in the science fiction genre with which he was originally so enamored, having directed films with android heroes and villains, , and blue cat-people having weird tail-sex.

Harrison Ford

Although one of his most famous roles is an adventure-seeking archaeology professor, Harrison Ford actually majored in Philosophy at Ripon College and dropped out before graduating. The wry actor initially found it hard to find anything more than bit parts in Hollywood, and eventually took up carpentry to make ends meet. Ford wasn’t content to be just a regular carpenter, so he got a job as a stagehand for the freakin’ Doors. He was hanging around in George Lucas’ Hollywood home one day installing some cabinets, when George had a bright idea. ‘Hey, when you’re done tightening those hinges, why don’t you come be in my movie and launch one the biggest acting careers of all time? You know, if you’re free.’ Today, Ford is undoubtedly one of the most beloved actors in the world. Just don’t bother telling him, he already knows.

Lady Gaga

What can you say about Lady Gaga that hasn’t been said all ready? Whether you think she is a talented artist or not, it’s impossible to deny that she’s an influential figure in modern pop music. Gaga was born Stefani Germanotta in New York City. She was enrolled as the Tisch School of the Arts, but dropped out when she decided she was more creative than her classmates and was being more constrained than nurtured by her academic surroundings. Her father promised to pay for one year’s rent so Germanotta could focus on trying to break into the music scene, so she found a cheap apartment in the Lower East Side and got to work. After struggling for a while under her original name (and a very different music style), Germanotta decided to Ladify herself. It was her introduction to famed producer and hit-maker RedOne, however, that helped Gaga truly launch her successful career. Since then she hasn’t looked back, winning a slew of awards for her music and videos and rocking the world with heravant-guard aesthetic.

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell is best known as the acid-tongued anchor of the American Idol judging panel, spouting criticisms that often, more or less, amount to nothing more than blatant insults. Only very rarely is the quick-witted Cowell sufficiently put in his place. Simon Cowell was born in October of 1959, in the city of Brighton, England. From the outset, his school life was tumultuous. Cowell had been ejected from 16 schools by the age of 16 – either for rebuking teachers with his now-legendry acerbic wit, or for rocking v-necks with deeper plunges than British school standards would allow. The 16th dismissal, it seems, was the straw that broke the camel’s back: Cowell dropped out of school to take a mailroom job with his father’s employer, music giant EMI. After only a few years sorting letters, Cowell was able to snag a job as a producer for EMI. In the early 80s, he decided to launch his own label, E&S, which was unfortunately about as successful as Paula Abdul’s attempts at coherent speech. Cowell wasn’t discouraged, however – he just plunged the V ever further, got a five-dollar 80s haircut, and started yet another label, Fanfare. Unlike his first foray into business, Fanfare became a success, and paved the way for Cowell’s successful future.

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks was studying theatre at Sacramento State, but dropped out when he got the opportunity to take a more practical approach to the acting biz with a full-time internship at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival. Hanks’ film acting career certainly started quite strong; the young, Shakespearean-trained actor landed roles in films with such compelling subject matter as hot mermaids and coke-snorting donkeys. But, for some strange reason, this wasn’t enough for Hanks – if twitter existed in the early 90s, Hanks’ only post would have been, ‘brb – winning Oscars, lol.’ Tom Hanks became only the second actor in history to win back-to-back Oscars for Best Actor, for Philadelphia in 1993 and Forrest Gump in 1994. Hanks was never guaranteed success, but he followed his instincts and dropped out. You know what mama always said: ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.’

Tiger Woods

We’ve all heard about Tiger Wood’s mistresses; he’s definitely a pro at adultery. But did you know the guy can also play golf? Even before the recent media blow-up over his personal life, Woods was a pretty well known fellow. He is widely considered the greatest golfer of all time, and the fact that he is half Thai has all but eradicated the stereotype of Asians being bad drivers. Because he was readily beating the guys more than four times his age when he was only three years old, it was no surprise when the college scholarship offers came rolling in. Woods accepted an offer from Stanford and settled in a major in Economics, but it was only two short years before the child prodigy dropped out and went back to what he does best: kicking ass at golf, and breaking records like it was going out of fashion.

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Adult education is becoming an increasingly appealing and facile option for adults who feel as though they’d benefit from either returning to college or going for the first time. The time-honored norm of going straight from high school is being tried and tested, and the options available to those wishing to balance a college education with their daily lives are ever increasing and extremely diverse. There is little doubt that the trend in college education is moving more and more towards catering to adults.

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According to the US census bureau, in 2005 there were 20,839,000 students aged between 31 and 40, and 21,983,000 between 41 and 50. If we compare this to the total number of students between the ages of 16 and 30 (25,040,000), it’s easy to see how important adult education is becoming within the marketplace of college education. In addition to the aforementioned age brackets, there were 25,977,000 students over the age of 51 in the education system in 2005. Perhaps an even more interesting statistic is evident in the fact that of the 93,939,000 students in 2005, 58,748,000 of them were married, and even more interestingly, 26,746,000 of them had children under the age of 10 in the household. This shows a sharply increased trend in adult education for those who already have significant life commitments, such as caring for children.

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So, how do we explain this increasing trend in adult education: what factors come into play in rendering the process more facile for those with other commitments? First and foremost, it is a matter of technology. Technologies exist now that make a tertiary education possible for people who but 20 years ago would have had little or no access to adult education courses because of their location or responsibilities. Distance education such as online courses, audio and video courses, night classes – all of these these options help to furnish single mothers, widows and widowers, busy couples, married or not, and a whole slew of other non-tradition adult group the opportunity to pursue their dreams and interests.

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The best thing about adult education is that it in no real way usurps those students who choose to pursue the traditional, well-established avenue of going straight to college from school. Rather, it enriches their college experience by allowing them to engage in dialogue with people who have disparate life experiences and thus a different approach to the course. Adult education is on the rise, proving it’s never too late (or too hard) to learn something new or open a new chapter in your life.

NPR reports: “15 percent of Americans say they want abstinence-only sex education in the schools, 30 percent of the the principals of public middle schools and high schools where sex education is taught report that their schools teach abstinence-only.”

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There has been an immense — and intense — amount of controversy surrounding the necessity and implementation of sex education in high schools (and even junior high schools) for a long time leading up to today. Even after years of heated debates, curriculum changes, and protests, American society is unable to come to a decision regarding this issue as a nation.

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Although there is strong evidence suggesting that teaching sex education courses does not increase sexual activity in young people — in fact, it may even lower it in some cases — there are still some who are strongly opposed to the idea and refuse to believe the facts. Some areas in America are in such harmonic opposition that no sex education is taught at all; schools in these areas opt for an ‘abstinence-only’ program instead.

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Ironically, these ‘abstinence-only’ programs actually promote teen pregnancy and do the opposite of preventing sexual activity at an early age. It is amazing that even in places like the Rio Grande Valley, where 2,000 pregnant teens in 2008 earned the record for highest pregnancy rate in the entire state, these types of programs are still upheld and renowned by some as the most appropriate form of sex ‘education.’

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So why don’t they work? Is it just reverse psychology taking hold on wily American teens? Probably not. The main problem with preaching abstinence is that it leaves those who choose not to participate in the lifestyle completely uneducated about how to protect themselves in a world of STDs and possible pregnancy. Abstinence-only programs assume that information about condoms, diseases, and birth control are inappropriate and unnecessary. Besides, no one wants to sit through the uncomfortable and sprawling moments present while giving your kid the “sex talk.”

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Perhaps there are some who assume that teaching a detailed and comprehensive sex education course is akin to condoning — or even encouraging — sexual activity among youngsters. Sadly, this adamant ignorance is actually totally counterproductive and yielding completely opposite results than desired. Denying knowledge to a teen growing, changing, and surrounded by sexually saturated ads and television shows can only leave them lost and confused in a world where they are not always monitored by adults. So what happens when two hormonal teens are alone and the parents aren’t home? And even if the adults are at home and maintain rules against closed-doors, there’s always the park. Or the car. Or a number of other places — teens are smarter than we tend to give them credit for, but it’s hard for them to make educated decisions when we haven’t given them the actual education needed to do so. Teens who are unaware of any of the benefits of condoms are very unlikely to use them.

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As society progresses, we can only hope that the merits of sex education will become more obvious than they already are — and, consequently, the schools holding onto their abstinence-only courses will come to realize that they are hurting, rather than helping.