School is something you can always come back to, but once you start into the family/kids part of your life it becomes a lot more difficult for most people. The best time to be in school is when you don't have any responsibilities to support anyone else.
There are people who say “I'll never need this math -- these trig identities from 10th grade or 11th grade.” Or maybe you never learned them. Here's the catch: whether or not you ever use the math that you learned in school, the act of having learned the math established a wiring in your brain that didn't exist before, and it's the wiring in your brain that makes you the problem solver.
> That said, for most people the purpose of school is to prepare them to be able to support themselves and their families, and it sounds like he's basically able to do that now.
The real question you have to ask is whether you can do both (impractical and practical) -- if you can do both, then it is clearly better than doing one.
You may not realize it now, but a lot of things that seem impractical can become very useful (or at the very least, fascinating) when provided with the right context. For example, if you ever want to learn about how your computer works on the inside, knowing basic physics will give you better perspective on what's happening. More obscure stuff like Quantum Tunneling starts appearing in technologies like NAND flash memory -- it's not necessarily practical to know all that, but I'm very happy that I know it.
Forget I even said anything.
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You don't know what you don't know. You can have a fine career in programming without math -- but with math you can have many great careers.
Keep taking math and working hard at it. Stop when it gets too hard.
Two of my three favorite classes in college were math classes -- combinatorics and algorithms.
If possible, learning physics and managing a Minecraft hosting company is clearly better than just the latter.
and we're not talking a lemonade stand. he's doing the heavy lifting at a hosting company; networking, Linux administration, programming.
all of which are disciplines in their own right
do you really think he'll have trouble rounding himself out by reading broadly?
Further, I find it a bit odd that the kid, knowing that his parents are paying thousands of dollars (I'm assuming) to attend a private school decides to start neglecting his classes. I'm likely just not doing a good job of understanding his point of view, but it feels selfish and immature.
Did he not want to discuss his ambitions with his parents? They clearly care about him (at least, remarkably more than many of the kids that went to my high school).
Is the company really consuming all of his time? Or is this letter satisfying a desire to rebel? These are important questions to ask him (but probably in a less confrontational tone).
> It's definitely a goofy, pompous, rambling letter written by someone who doesn't know what he doesn't know yet.
Here, you are quick to come to the conclusion that he is simply naieve. In that case, I too, may be naieve because I cannot quickly point out what it is that he is missing. Neither do you in your comment point it out. If you get around the language, which may seem pompous, it appears to me that this kid would actually like to know the answer to this very question that you have dodged.
Lots quit school for "real life", and for far worse reasons than having a substantial & profitable business, though I'd suggest there's a survivor bias to the ones you hear about - Branson, Gates etc.
Like I said, the only reason against is that you don't know what you don't know, and his parents will see real risks that he won't.
The time for an intervention was a while back, and it just doesn't seem like a terrible parental decision to throw your support behind a child with ambition and some success. (unless of course the business is propped up by parental subsidy, or favours from friends: free rent, broadband, meals etc. might have made a ramen-profitable business look like a fabulously comfortable one).
Who knows whether it's the right decision? It's a viable one while business is good. I hope his motivation stays strong for whatever comes next - whether that's expansion, a second business, college, or something else. Good luck to him.
I'd say to the kid: don't give up on school. There are lots of ways to continue formal education besides your current high school. Find something that works (see many ideas on this thread), part time if necessary, and do it. Yes, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, but he could return to Harvard if Microsoft failed.
It's definitely a goofy, pompous, rambling letter written by someone who doesn't know what he doesn't know yet. But assuming the business is profitable, there's zero chance that you or his parents can stop him from pursuing it at this point. I think this 15-year old's decision is made, and the point to intervene might have been when he started employing people.
I wasn't particularly academic, but wasn't driven / confident enough at college to start a business either. So I got my grades, degree etc. first, and have never given a CV to anyone. But I think anyone who gets that far, got through education to 18 or 21 and says they got nothing out of it years later is pretty stupid or short-sighted.
A year of computer science at college turned me from a know-it-all hacker into a grateful know-nothing. Two years of classics before that showed me how to spot when I was hopelessly bored and only trying to fulfil others' expectations, while I built a great relationship with my wife. You get something out of such a dense set of life experiences, but you might have to work it out what it was afterwards.
I'd say to the parents let him go, with a stern & overblown warning that he'd better not fuck it up. If he's burned out or bored of the hosting business at 17 or 18, there's nothing stopping him from resuming his education if that's what he wants - it's just doing things in a different order.