Asger Risom
Elon Musk’s dropout advice clashes with reality for most Americans
At the height of Silicon Valley’s confidence, some of its most powerful figures made sweeping claims about education and work. Few were as blunt — or as revealing — as a remark Elon Musk made about college.
More than five years later, the comment lands very differently in an America grappling with student debt, labor shortages, and widening inequality.
A dismissive take
Speaking at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington, DC, Musk told an audience that people “don’t need college to learn stuff,” despite many job listings at his rocket company SpaceX requiring at least a bachelor’s degree.
“I think college is basically for fun and to prove that you can do your chores, but they’re not for learning,” Musk said, according to The Guardian.
He argued that the real value of college lay in completing “annoying homework assignments” and socialising with people of a similar age before entering the workforce.
Drop out, ideally
Musk went further, suggesting that higher education should not be a requirement at his companies. “That’s absurd,” he said of degree requirements, adding that the main qualification he looks for is “exceptional ability.”
“I don’t consider going to college evidence of exceptional ability,” Musk said. “In fact, ideally you dropped out.”
To make his point, he cited Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison — tech founders often invoked as proof that formal education is optional. He also asked rhetorically: “Did Shakespeare go to college? Probably not.”
Convenient omissions
What Musk did not emphasise is that such examples are outliers. As The Guardian noted at the time, the average college graduate in the US earns about $30,000 more per year than someone with only a high school diploma.
There is also Musk’s own background. He holds two bachelor’s degrees, earned at Queen’s University in Canada and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. While he dropped out of a Stanford PhD program after two days, he did so after already completing elite undergraduate training.
A harsher reality
The comments look particularly hollow against today’s backdrop. College tuition has continued to rise, student debt has become a defining economic burden, and many employers still use degrees as a gatekeeping tool.
At the same time, Musk’s companies and peers regularly warn of talent shortages while demanding highly specialised skills — skills most workers still acquire through formal education or costly training.
For most Americans, dropping out of college is not a bold act of genius but a long-term financial risk. Musk’s remarks now read less like contrarian wisdom and more like a billionaire’s blind spot — one that ignores how education, imperfect as it is, remains one of the few reliable paths to economic stability.
Sources: The Guardian
