Dale J. Stephens left conventional school behind at age 12 and has been part of the DIY education movement ever since. In "Hacking Your Education," Stephens shows you how to save time and money while still learning everything you need. Here's an excerpt.

I went to college because I assumed I needed a college degre to get a good job. When I realized that wasnt the case, I left. Thinking back on it now, I went to college because I wanted to do the things I believed only college graduates could do. Visions of handsome jobs, alumni networks, and all-night parties filled my teenage mind. What I realized is that the fantasy isnt the college degree. The fantasy is the path to success a college education is supposed to open. It turns out you can skip college entirely and learn more than your peers ever will.

We shouldnt be asking, How can I get a college degree? Instead, we should ask, How can I get the things a degree promises?

As I see it, there are three main reasons we go to university:

1. For the social experience

2. To get a job

3. To learn for learnings sake.

The Social Experience of College

A few days before I left college, I was having dinner in the cafeteria with friends who were asking me questions about leaving school. Where will you live? they asked, and How will you support yourself? These were serious questions, and I gave serious answers until a voice piped up at the end of the table.

What about the beer and the girls? a guy from my English class asked. Arent you going to miss them?

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‘Hacking Your Education’: Build your future on your own terms

Name Harvard University Image name Harvard Wreath Logo 1.svg Latin name Universitas Harvardiana Motto Veritas Established 1636 Mottoeng Truth Type Private Calendar Semester Endowment US$32 billion (2011) President Drew Gilpin Faust Students 21,225 Undergrad 7,181 total6,655 College 526 Extension Postgrad 14,044 Staff 2,497 non-medical10,674 medical Faculty 2,107 City Cambridge State Massachusetts Country U.S. Campus Urban (Main campus) (Medical campus) (Allston campus) Athletics 41 Varsity TeamsIvyLeague NCAA Division I Colors Crimson Free label Newspaper Free The Harvard Crimson Nickname Harvard Crimson Website Logo Publictransit Harvard (MBTA station) }} Harvard University is an American private Ivy League research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation (officially The President and Fellows of Harvard College) chartered in the country. Harvard's history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Harvard was named after its first benefactor, John Harvard. Although never formally affiliated with a church, the college primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Harvard's curriculum and students became secular throughout the 18th century and by the 19th century had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites. Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's forty year tenure (18691909) transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a centralized research university, and Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College. Drew Gilpin Faust was elected the 28th president in 2007 and is the first woman to lead the university. Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, standing at $32 billion as of September 2011.

The university comprises eleven separate academic unitsten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studywith campuses throughout the Boston metropolitan area. Harvard's main campus is centered on Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately northwest of downtown Boston. The business school and athletics facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located across the Charles River in Allston and the medical, dental, and public health schools are located in the Longwood Medical Area.

Eight U.S. presidents have been graduates, and 75 Nobel Laureates have been student, faculty, or staff affiliates. Harvard is also the alma mater of sixty-two living billionaires, the most in the country. The Harvard University Library is the largest academic library in the United States, and one of the largest in the world.

The Harvard Crimson competes in 41 intercollegiate sports in the NCAA Division I Ivy League. Harvard has an intense athletic rivalry with Yale University traditionally culminating in The Game, although the HarvardYale Regatta predates the football game. This rivalry, though, is put aside every two years when the Harvard and Yale Track and Field teams come together to compete against a combined Oxford University and Cambridge University team, a competition that is the oldest continuous international amateur competition in the world.

The leading Boston divine Increase Mather served as president from 1685 to 1701. In 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, which marked a turning of the college toward intellectual independence from Puritanism.

In 1846, the natural history lectures of Louis Agassiz were acclaimed both in New York and on the campus at Harvard College. Agassiz's approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans' "participation in the Divine Nature" and the possibility of understanding "intellectual existences".' Agassiz's perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that a person can grasp the "divine plan" in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on a presumed archetype for his evidence. This dual view of knowledge was in concert with the teachings of Common Sense Realism derived from Scottish philosophers Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart, whose works were part of the Harvard curriculum at the time. The popularity of Agassiz's efforts to "soar with Plato" probably also derived from other writings to which Harvard students were exposed, including Platonic treatises by Ralph Cudworth, John Norrisand, in a Romantic vein, Samuel Coleridge. The library records at Harvard reveal that the writings of Plato and his early modern and Romantic followers were almost as regularly read during the 19th century as those of the "official philosophy" of the more empirical and more deistic Scottish school.

Charles W. Eliot, president 18691909, eliminated the favored position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, but by Transcendentalist Unitarian convictions. Derived from William Ellery Channing and Ralph Waldo Emerson, these convictions were focused on the dignity and worth of human nature, the right and ability of each person to perceive truth, and the indwelling God in each person.

In 19451960 admissions policies were opened up to bring in students from a more diverse applicant pool. No longer drawing mostly from rich alumni of select New England prep schools, the undergraduate college was now open to striving middle class students from public schools; many more Jews and Catholics were admitted, but few blacks, Hispanics or Asians.

In 1999, Radcliffe College, founded in 1879 as the "Harvard Annex for Women", merged formally with Harvard University, becoming the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

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Limpag: Disruptive innovation

ST. LOUIS Hundreds of parents, students and alumni filed into two high school auditoriums Saturday in hopes of saving the citys only military magnet high school from closing.

Some stood in line for more than an hour to speak passionately about Cleveland NJROTC High, a school thats moved twice since 2006 and has faced closure before.

For nearly six hours at two public forums, district superintendent Kelvin Adams listened to story after story, plea after plea.

Students told him Cleveland NJROTC had changed their lives.

Tanasia Robinson said she didnt care about her education before coming to Cleveland last year. When I came to Cleveland, I got a sense of hope, she said.

Connor Coats, a sophomore, said if it werent for the school and its discipline code, he would be suffering academically. I would have become a statistic about the failure of St. Louis Public Schools.

Adams sat on the stage and listened. Rick Sullivan, president of the districts Special Administrative Board, sat in the audience, silently taking notes.

The board is scheduled to vote March 20 on closing three of the citys 73 schools Sherman Elementary, LOuverture Middle and Cleveland which would result in about $1.1 million in savings next year. Saturdays forums were held at Vashon and Central and Performing Arts highs.

School closures are occurring at rapid pace in urban school systems nationwide as districts adapt to fewer students and emptier buildings. Its a move that Adams says must be made if the St. Louis district is to adjust to increasing costs, shrinking revenue and enrollment.

Clevelands supporters werent convinced.

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Students, parents rally behind Cleveland NJROTC High

BUSINESS

Allen Cassens, of Edwardsville, received the 2013 Friend of the University Award from McKendree University Feb. 20. The award is given by the school's Alumni Board to individuals or organizations that have given exemplary service to McKendree. Cassens, owner of Cassens Corporation holding company, has served on the university's board of trustees for 17 years and has supported the school's arts center, natatorium and annual fund.

NURSING

Ozzie Hunter, an instructor at the Southern Illinois University School of Nursing, has received The DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Award from The DAISY Foundation. Hunter received the award in part due to his work as a flight nurse with SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis. He is a 23-year veteran of pediatric work. He was nominated by staffers at Cardinal Glennon after taking extraordinary measures to help a mother get the hospital in order to be with her son.

ENGINEERING

REAL ESTATE

Jason Thorpe has joined RE/MAX Preferred Partners in Edwardsville as a member of its sales team. Thorpe, of Collinsville, has seven years of experience in the financial sector.

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Collinsville business news for the week of Feb. 27

Tonight, we will be celebrating our inaugural induction of the first class in the Franklin-Simpson Hall of Fame. The event is being at FSHS starting at 5 PM. We will begin the induction ceremony at 5:45 PM in the Commons Area adjacent to our new gymnasium. We invite you to join us as we celebrate our school communitys rich heritage and these distinguished recipients of the Hall of Fame recognition.

Back in the Fall of 2012, Simpson County Schools announced it is starting a new tradition called the Franklin-Simpson Hall of Fame. FSHS and the Simpson County Schools have a rich history and many alumni who have distinguished themselves, as well as many others who have made significant contributions to our school system. Nominations were sought and the F-S Hall of Fame Committee selected 4 members for the inaugural class of 2013! The Franklin-Simpson Hall of Fame 2013 Inductees:

Ronald Wayne Clark WKU Basketball Standout under Coach E.A. Diddle 1953-1957 Principal of Franklin-Simpson High School 1962-1966 WKU Board of Regents Member 1974-1990 President of Franklin Bank and Trust 1988-1993 Devoted Sports Booster for Franklin-Simpson High School Mayor of Franklin 2011-2014 Local Philanthropist donating countless hours and dollars to Franklin-Simpson youth

Dr. David Leon Mooneyhan: Franklin-Simpson High School Class of 1965 Received PhD from Vanderbilt Universitys Peabody College Director of Vocational Education and Assistant Superintendent for Simpson County Schools Served as Superintendent of the Fulton County and Shelby County Schools CEO of the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative Noteworthy Leader and Advocate for Public Education

Dr. David Wayne Patterson: Youngest of twenty children growing up in Franklin Valedictorian of Franklin-Simpson High School Class of 1977 Received MD from Vanderbilt University in 1985 Past Chief Resident, George Washington University Internal Medicine Clinical Professor of Medicine, George Washington University Medical Center 24 years of private practice in downtown Washington, D.C. Named Top Doctor and Best Doctors in America Established the Alice and V. K. Patterson Scholarship at Vanderbilt University

Kenny Perry: Attended Franklin-Simpson Schools Member of the PGA Tour and Champions Tour with 19 tour victories Member of the 2004 and 2008 Ryder Cup Teams Member of the 1996, 2003, 2005, and 2009 Presidents Cup Teams Achieved Top Ten World Ranking Noteworthy Philanthropist in the Franklin-Simpson Community

The school district will induct its inaugural class into the Franklin-Simpson Hall of Fame on Thursday, February 28, 2013 beginning at 5 PM in the FSHS Commons Area associated with the new gymnasium. A reception will follow the induction ceremony. Annually, the school district will add another class to the Hall of Fame, which will be located in the Commons Area of FSHS, which is a beautiful area to highlight the Hall of Fame Inductees. The rules for nominations to the Franklin-Simpson Hall of Fame: Graduates of any Simpson County School will be considered. Non-graduates and graduates from outside Simpson County will be considered based on extraordinary contribution to the Franklin-Simpson community. Nomination shall include the completed nomination form and may include up to 5 letters of recommendation (no more than 2 pages), and any other documentation deemed appropriate (not to exceed 5 pages). A nomination shall be considered for a three-year period or until induction, whichever occurs first. A nominee not selected during the three-year period may be re-nominated for additional three-year periods. The selection committee will be appointed by the superintendent of schools on a yearly basis. The selection committee will determine the number of inductees each year. This is a time to celebrate our graduates who have distinguished themselves and others who made a difference for our school system, Flynn said. We look forward to celebrating our first class of inductees with a wonderful ceremony and reception in their honor.

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Franklin-Simpson Hall of Fame

Newswise Some of Chicagos poorest neighborhoods are expected to see the greatest demand for additional primary care doctors in 2014, as the Affordable Care Act boosts the number of newly insured patients seeking medical services, a new study has found.

Englewood, with a median income of $34,000, for example, will see demand for primary care physicians grow by about 10 percent the largest expected increase in 12 local areas examined in the study published last week by the journal Health Affairs.

Conversely, Streeterville, with a median income of almost $72,000, will see only a 0.5 percent rise in demand for doctors.

Nationwide, at least 7 million Americans live in areas where demand for additional primary care doctors will jump by more than 10 percent, according to Elbert Huang, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine, and co-author Howard Finegold, an analyst in the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

The study forecasts that 29 million people will get health insurance for the first time in 2014 under the health care law, resulting in 26 million additional doctor visits per year. That, in turn, will require 7,200 more primary care providers, including doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, at a time when the numbers of these practitioners are falling.

You might be able to dramatically reduce the number of people who are uninsured, but it does not ensure there's a provider waiting for you once you get that insurance card, said Huang, director of the Center for Translational and Policy Research of Chronic Diseases. He also served as a senior adviser in 2010 for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at HHS working on implementing the ACA.

Its long been known the country faces a shortage of primary care physicians, as falling government insurance reimbursement rates, among other reasons, has helped to drive prospective doctors into other specialty areas.

In an unrelated study of more than 1,000 first-year medical students, Shalini Reddy, MD, associate professor of medicine and director of student professional development programs at the Pritzker School of Medicine, and colleagues found that only a quarter of students said they would choose a primary care specialty if they had to select a field now.

This is discouraging, as the number of people who ultimately choose a career in primary care after residency is lower, she said.

Complete results of the study, the brainchild of a student intending to go into primary care, will be presented at the Association of American Medical Colleges 9th Annual Physician Workforce Research Conference in May.

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Doctor Shortage to Hit Chicago's Poorer Neighborhoods Harder

The inaugural class of the Warren County Public Schools Hall of Distinguished Alumni includes 12 graduates of Warren County high schools who have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as agriculture, academics, athletics, politics, and the legal profession. After considering applications for the inaugural class since mid-December, the seven-member selection committee came up with an even dozen alumni with impressive credentials.

This first class of inductees is an impressive group, says Warren County Board of Education Vice Chairman Mike Wilson. The 12 who were selected have all accomplished great things in a variety of fields. I think its great that we have started honoring our distinguished alumni in this way. Its a wonderful honor for them, and it also presents an example for our current students. It gives them something to aspire to.

Likewise, Warren County Public Schools Superintendent Tim Murley believes the Hall of Distinguished Alumni will be an asset to the school district. I love the idea, Murley says. Our district has had so many graduates who have done such amazing things. We need to recognize them and celebrate their accomplishments. The induction of these first members will be a proud day for Warren County Schools.

The induction of this inaugural class will take place on Saturday, May 18 at the Carroll Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green. The inductees:

-- Dr. Kenneth Bastin, a 1980 graduate of Warren Central High School now living in Wisconsin. Dr. Bastin earned his bachelors degree in Physics and Chemistry at Western Kentucky University (WKU) and his Doctor of Medicine degree at Vanderbilt University. He has dedicated his career to treatment of cancer patients and has helped develop new treatments for the disease. He is now Clinical Director of Radiation Oncology at St. Lukes Medical Center in Milwaukee.

-- Dr. Jenks Britt, a 1962 graduate of Warren County High School now living in Bowling Green. Dr. Britt earned his bachelors degree in Agriculture and Biology at WKU and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Auburn University. He has practiced or taught veterinary medicine for the past 42 years. He was a partner/owner of Logan County Animal Clinic for 23 years and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine for five years. Since 1998, he has been a professor or department head in the WKU Department of Agriculture.

-- David Clark, a 1986 graduate of Warren Central High School now living in Adams, Tennessee. Mr. Clark was an active-duty Army helicopter pilot from 1986 until his retirement in 2011. He flew combat helicopter missions in Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-91), Invasion of Haiti (1994), Iraq (2003-08), and Afghanistan (2005). His military awards include the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars, and 10 Air Medals. Among his career highlights was leading the helicopter assault to rescue POW Jessica Lynch in 2003. Clark now works as a civilian contractor to the U.S. Army designing future Army special operations aircraft cockpits and components.

-- Daymeon Fishback, a 1996 graduate of Greenwood High School now living in Birmingham, Alabama. One of the greatest athletes ever to attend a Warren County high school, Fishback was the first player from Warren County to be named Kentucky Mr. Basketball when he earned that honor in 1996. He is still Greenwoods all-time leading scorer with 2,214 points. He enjoyed a stellar career at Auburn University, playing on a team that finished 29-4 in 1998-99 and finishing as one of the schools top five 3-point shooters. Fishback played professional basketball in Europe before returning to Alabama, where he now works as a financial advisor. He is also a college basketball color analyst with Fox Sports South, ESPN, and The Auburn Network.

-- Dr. Sharron Francis, a 1962 graduate of Warren County High School now living in Nashville. She graduated from WKU in 1965 with a degree in biology then earned her doctorate in Medical Physiology from Vanderbilt University in 1970. Dr. Francis completed postdoctoral work at Washington University in St. Louis and the National Heart and Lung Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. She joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1975 and works as a research professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Her research, which focuses on mechanisms cells use to regulate their functions, has contributed to treatment of hypertension, asthma, diabetes, and male impotence. In 2008, Dr. Francis was inducted into the WKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

-- Charles Hardcastle, a 1951 graduate of Alvaton High School now living in Bowling Green. A 1956 graduate of WKU, Hardcastle distinguished himself in the military, attaining the rank of captain. For the past 50 years, he has built a successful career in business and politics while also earning accolades for his service to the community. He served terms as Bowling Green mayor and as a Warren County magistrate, and he has spearheaded many community-service projects through his work with the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. A longtime partner in BG Chemical, Hardcastle has also had his hand in businesses such as Bowling Green Paper, WBKO Television, and Citizens First Bank.

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Warren County Public Schools Honor Alumni

As part of its celebration of February as Black History Month, the Black Student Alliance at Yale has been featuring profiles of some of the Universitys pioneering African American alumni on its Facebook. The following are brief descriptions of those individuals. For the complete biographies, visit the BSAY Facebook page.

Nimrod Booker Allen, who earned a bachelors degree in sacred theology from Yale Divinity School in 1915, was head of the Columbus (Ohio) Urban League for nearly 40 years, leading the organization through the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, the economic collapse of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the growth of the black population during World War II, and the civil rights movement of the 1950s. Through all of these years, Allen always advocated a non-confrontational approach to race relations.

John H. Lewis, who earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School in 1913, was a pastor and educator who served for two terms as president of Morris Brown College in Georgia (19201928 and 19511958). During his career, he also served as pastor of First AME Church in Pasadena, California; principal of Dunbar High School and Junior College in Little Rock, Arkansas; president of the AME-supported Shorter College of North Little Rock; and dean of Payne Theological Seminary at Wilberforce University.

Harry G. Tolliver, who graduated from Yale Law School in 1908, was a practicing attorney in New Haven and the citys first African-American alderman, representing the 19th ward for two terms. His election marked a new era in political circles for African Americans as this was the first office of any consequence to which an African American had been elected in the history of Connecticut politics.

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Honoring Yale’s pioneering African-American alumni

In your role at Harvard, you get to range over all the disciplines, right? I teach in the medical school, the School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Business School. And its the best perchbecause most of my work crosses boundaries. The work Im doing on the way we deliver health care draws on ideas that are well-established in the management field but had really never entered the thinking of people in medical schools and hospitals. Whats going to turn around health care in the U.S.? The problem of health care today isnt the one weve been debating for the last 20 or 30 years. The problem weve been debating is insurancehow to get more people covered. Thats important, but ultimately the issue is how we can get more value: improve the outcomes for the money were spending and deliver those excellent outcomes more efficiently. And that will require a restructuring of revolutionary proportions in how we organize health-care organizations, how doctors and nurses work together. Describe this revolution. Health care historically has been a very siloed field thats organized around medical specialtiesurology, cardiac surgery, and so forthand around the supply of these specialty services. The patient is the ping-pong ball that moves from service to service. If youre a diabetic, you need an endocrinologist. You need to worry about your eyes. You need to worry about your veins. Ultimately, health care fails the most basic test. Its not organized around the needs of the patient. Until we make that fundamental transformation, were hobbled in our ability to bend the cost curve. Health care isnt the 900-pound gorilla. Its the 9million-pound gorilla that will dominate our future budget problems. Weve just come through a huge debate on health care. Weve dealt with access. Was cost just too much to bite off at the same time? I could only assume thats why. It was fundamentally the reform of the insurance system. And many of the reforms were good; we need to give full credit there. One of the problems we have in health care is weve got a lot of preventable things that are really driving the cost up. And we havent cracked the code of how to do that. The best work on prevention now is actually in the corporate sector. Companies understand that if their employees are sick, its really expensive. So despite the rhetoric I hear, thank God employers are still in the health-care system. Tell me about this special report from the Harvard Business School on Americas economic future. We decided to take this issue on because we were deeply disturbed about the path that the U.S. economy was on. We were seeing things we havent experienced in this country for many decades. Things like the sputtering of the job creation machine. If you look from 1970 to 2000, we would create, on average, 2percent, 2.1percent job growth every year. Around 2000, 2001, that just stopped. And our wages werent growing. Is that because the world was changing and we werent? Thats probably the biggest part of the problem. The rest of the world had been steadily improving their competitiveness, their skills, their infrastructure, reducing corruption, lowering their taxes. How do you draw the line between spending and investing in the future? Every person will define what they want as investment. But the data show that the things we really know are investments, that shape our future competitiveness, are development programs, education. And our physical infrastructure, that allows us to move goods and people and energy efficiently, has been declining. The president is right to be focusing on some of these areas. That said, our means are shrinking. Weve got to reduce the amount of money were spending, and we have to increase revenues, too. But we would prefer that we do that by closing down loopholes and exemptions rather than driving up tax rates. Does Big Business want a lower corporate rate, or would it prefer to keep the tax breaks? This raises an important question about how business has contributed to the problem we have now, and part of it is special-interest lobbying. But we found, from thousands of executiveswe surveyed our alumni for the first time in the history of our business schooland theres overwhelming consensus that we should lower the corporate rate and close the loopholes. And the general publics favorite, out of all the things we recommended, was to reduce the corporate tax rate and eliminate loopholes.

Watch Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV weeknights at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.

Emmy Award-winning journalist Charlie Rose is the host of Charlie Rose, the nightly PBS program.

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Charlie Rose Talks to Harvard's Michael Porter