The point about being highly educated interests me, because there are apparently 2.9 percent of innovators without a college degree of any kind. I wonder if in this demographic there are more people like Bill Gates (a clearly brilliant man who dropped out of Harvard) or if they are people who never had the opportunity to go to college, then later in life created something impressive. Basically I'm wondering if the people who innovated without any degree were just so brilliant that they obviously didn't need it and created something instead of going to school, or if they may have been a talent that was not fully realized because of lack of opportunity.
On that page it says those who are inventors are most likely very educated in STEM related fields. Perhaps STEM needs to be pushed more starting in Elementary school? This may give more people the tools to invent stuff.
While I agree that STEM education is super important, I think the strength of the American education system is the wide variety of topics that everybody learns. The artistry of Macs came from the art classes that Steve Jobs was able to take, and that more than anything has led to their popularity. Philosophy majors actually make significantly more than biology majors because many of them become business leaders and bring innovative thinking to their jobs. So while we can probably improve our STEM education, not losing that focus on other subjects is also super important.
While I agree that STEM education is super important, I think the strength of the American education system is the wide variety of topics that everybody learns. The artistry of Macs came from the art classes that Steve Jobs was able to take, and that more than anything has led to their popularity. Philosophy majors actually make significantly more than biology majors because many of them become business leaders and bring innovative thinking to their jobs. So while we can probably improve our STEM education, not losing that focus on other subjects is also super important.
This is particularly interesting because I never expected the average age to be around 40. That being said, we have to take into account the various inventors who took advantage of innovations created by employees with Thomas Edison leading the pack. In a way it makes sense since these inventions have been revolutionary and have had profound effects on society, so it makes sense that people have developed and culminated their ideas into a grand creation later on in life.
This is very interesting article. But there were few things that I got to question. First, though the median age within three centuries was 40 or 47, for the 18th and 20th century, median age ranged from 36 to 40. I wonder if there will be any shift to the right(towards younger age) for 21st century, when there seems to be more opportunities for younger people to become successful much faster than those in the centuries ago. (I think there are more opportunities as technology advances at much faster rate and there is a higher chance of getting recognized through the Internet. For example, all three of YouTube founders were in their late 20s when they founded, and Mark Zuckerberg was only 20 years old when he launched Facebook at Harvard dorm.) Second, I wonder if there will be any shift to younger age, if there are a greater number of samples by counting “less-major” inventions. I don’t know how credible this source is by having only 34 samples with “major” inventions that changed the world significantly.
The point about being highly educated interests me, because there are apparently 2.9 percent of innovators without a college degree of any kind. I wonder if in this demographic there are more people like Bill Gates (a clearly brilliant man who dropped out of Harvard) or if they are people who never had the opportunity to go to college, then later in life created something impressive. Basically I'm wondering if the people who innovated without any degree were just so brilliant that they obviously didn't need it and created something instead of going to school, or if they may have been a talent that was not fully realized because of lack of opportunity.
ReplyDeleteOn that page it says those who are inventors are most likely very educated in STEM related fields. Perhaps STEM needs to be pushed more starting in Elementary school? This may give more people the tools to invent stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that STEM education is super important, I think the strength of the American education system is the wide variety of topics that everybody learns. The artistry of Macs came from the art classes that Steve Jobs was able to take, and that more than anything has led to their popularity. Philosophy majors actually make significantly more than biology majors because many of them become business leaders and bring innovative thinking to their jobs. So while we can probably improve our STEM education, not losing that focus on other subjects is also super important.
DeleteWhile I agree that STEM education is super important, I think the strength of the American education system is the wide variety of topics that everybody learns. The artistry of Macs came from the art classes that Steve Jobs was able to take, and that more than anything has led to their popularity. Philosophy majors actually make significantly more than biology majors because many of them become business leaders and bring innovative thinking to their jobs. So while we can probably improve our STEM education, not losing that focus on other subjects is also super important.
DeleteThis is particularly interesting because I never expected the average age to be around 40. That being said, we have to take into account the various inventors who took advantage of innovations created by employees with Thomas Edison leading the pack. In a way it makes sense since these inventions have been revolutionary and have had profound effects on society, so it makes sense that people have developed and culminated their ideas into a grand creation later on in life.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting article. But there were few things that I got to question. First, though the median age within three centuries was 40 or 47, for the 18th and 20th century, median age ranged from 36 to 40. I wonder if there will be any shift to the right(towards younger age) for 21st century, when there seems to be more opportunities for younger people to become successful much faster than those in the centuries ago. (I think there are more opportunities as technology advances at much faster rate and there is a higher chance of getting recognized through the Internet. For example, all three of YouTube founders were in their late 20s when they founded, and Mark Zuckerberg was only 20 years old when he launched Facebook at Harvard dorm.) Second, I wonder if there will be any shift to younger age, if there are a greater number of samples by counting “less-major” inventions. I don’t know how credible this source is by having only 34 samples with “major” inventions that changed the world significantly.
ReplyDelete