Sorting through facts

I was speaking with a young adult tonight who mentioned in the course of the conversation that he had quit school very early in life.  By the time he was 15, he wanted to return to school, but it was too late for him.  So, he has paid for it with hard work the rest of his life.

He's not alone by any stretch of the imagination.  Most young adults in the U.S. don't really like school well enough to choose more education after high school.  Roughly 25% of young adults didn't really like education enough to finish high school, and about a third of that crowd decided to drop from school before that.  The National Center for Education Statistics has a lot to say about education buried in the numbers it has compiled for over 50 years.

I feel for my young friend who is working so hard to make ends meet.  But, he has made the best of life.  Really, he has done quite well over the last 3 years.  He is in business for himself and seems pretty happy with his family of 6.  On both of those counts he has much on his educated counterparts.  He works hard, but he plays hard and holds family time at a premium.  In addition, he is currently learning to read and write in a second language. 

I really don't know what the quality of life is for the vast majority of people without much formal training.  But, if the people in that category are as industrious and resourceful as the man I spoke with, I think that I will gladly trust what comes for the last part of my life.  I can sleep with that.