Just a note to share with you my personal dismay at your using Benjamin Franklin as an illustration of someone having success although not attending college. In today's world, college is essential for attaining skills which will help any young man or woman in the world of work. Using a man who has been dead for more than 200 years as an illustration is not up to your usual standards.

You are so right. How could I have held up one of our most brilliant founding fathers as an illustration? He is definitely moldering in his grave and should be dismissed as irrelevant.

So, how about Bill Gates? Here is a man who, by standards common in our society, has done rather well. As I recall, he was seen by a psychologist earlier in his life. Happily, the psychologist recognized his uniqueness and counseled his parents to be less concerned about his future. Gates was accepted at Harvard, where he attended. However, he began a business in his dorm room. Harvard said he couldn't do that, and Gates left. This was not applauded by his parents, although they continued to recognize his drive and intelligence. Gates was successful in spite of not graduating from Harvard, although he did recently receive an honorary degree and has given the university some handsome grants — more than the cost of his dorm room!

My point is simple. One-size education does not fit all. We have a passion for forcing every child through a "curriculum." Happily, it usually works. College provides a place to grow up and learn about our place in history and the world. Certainly, I would not want a neurosurgeon who had not attended medical school. Where we mess up is in our cookie cutter notion of education. We should be able to do better.

Gates is very much alive. There really is nothing to be "dismayed" about.

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Dr. Larry Larsen is an Andover psychologist. If you would like to ask a question or respond to one, e-mail him at llrryllrsn@CS.com.