You are wrong Clemenza, I consider myself a dropout, therefore I have paid attention to all the non-degreed successes in this country and there are many. We are not illiterate and we are not dumb. We simply dance to a different tune.
In most cases we have way too much energy than to sit in some class learning about History. Give us a Machine shop class, a Laser class, a welding class, a class designing the best robot or dune buggy and we will be happy. We are the people that have open garages working on dirt bikes and sandrails inviting all the neighborhood kids to explore. We are the people that will investigate making a battery powered go-cart.
I do not consider skilled workers/tradesmen to be "dropouts." I think we are using the same term for two different things.
“In most cases we have way too much energy than to sit in some class learning about History.”
Energy — or lack thereof — has nothing to do with it. Discipline does, though. People lacking in discipline usually tend to be all over the place in terms of what they want to be, and often end up being nothing, and dependent upon those who were disciplined.
The undisciplined are the same folks who floated through life trying to “find themselves.” Many of them have gravitated towards far-left lunacies in their search for some kind of identity and meaning.