"At the same time I found being able to read and knowing basic math useful, but that's just me."
According to the National Center for Education Stastistics, only 4% of high school graduates are able to read proficiently. (And by proficiently, they mean having the minimum amount of skill necessary to 'compare viewpoints in two editorials' or 'interpret a table about blood pressure, age, and physical activity', i.e. an extremely low bar.)
According to me, that sounds like an incredibly dubious measure of "able to read proficiently". If only 4% of students are passing that means something is wrong with the test, because experience tells us that the majority of people are quite capable of reading normal passages and understanding what they mean.
"experience tells us that the majority of people are quite capable of reading normal passages and understanding what they mean."
Unfortunately science tells us the opposite.
What experience? I know quite a few people (not the HN crowd) who are reasonably smart, but give them a newspaper editorial by itself and they'll be lost. Not 96% of people I know, but a decent amount.
Because they lack the ability to read, or because they lack background knowledge on the subject of the editorial?
Take, for instance, today's editorial in the Telegraph (of Calcutta):
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qrMr6hx...
I'm pretty lost trying to read that. If I didn't keep up with US politics I'd be equally lost trying to read the New York Times.
At the same time I found being able to read and knowing basic math useful, but that's just me.
I don't necessarily have a problem dropping out of high school for good reason. But the article didn't show these reasons. First he met these girls one time for lunch? Unless he was really grilling them I'm not sure how smart you can really tell someone is. As a professor I've met students that are conversationally brilliant (witty, charming, etc...), and not surprisingly, it resembled little how strong they seemed in the material.
I'd even consider home schooling first. Teenagers who simply drop out are a lot more likely to get into destructive behavior. If they need challenge, I'm sure there are plenty of people who can give them this challenge in a loosely-structured manner.