I would not read too much into it. For some reason, popular media loves to refer particularly to inventors or entrepreneurs in this way.

Among the first things we learn from the media about people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg is that they dropped out of college, and Albert Einstein did badly at school -- doesn't even matter if it's true or not! I don't know where this silliness comes from, but it's not usually intended to be derogatory or have any real relationship to the story being reported at all.

And you're right, you don't need to have graduated highschool to know this was stupid and dangerous.