With this year’s batch of Oscar nominees, it’s time to scrutinize their early education roots. After all, these are the folks we look to as our on-screen heroes. When they get up and speak, our news media pays attention, endowing then with some kind of credibility, deserved or undeserved. For some inexplicable reason, we think they are more entitled to speak and be heard than the rest.

So, let’s see what their educations reveal: head of the class or class clown? This is our Education of Oscar Nominees 2009:

Heath Ledger
Nominated posthumously for his chilling performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, Ledger attended Mary’s Mount Primary School in Perth, Australia and then Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting gig at age 10 as Peter Pan. He was very successful at dance choreography and chess, winning the Western Australia junior chess championship.

Kate Winslet
At age 11, this perennial Oscar nominee and winner began studying drama at the Redroofs Theatre School. She was head girl at the co-ed school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she received a lot of negative attention as a teenager for being overweight and having overly large feet. As she appears stark naked in most of her films nowadays, it appears Winslet has overcome any insecurities brought on by said bullying.

Robert Downey, Jr.
Brought back to life in 2008 from the celebrity drug addiction graveyard, this Iron Man grew up in a filmmaking household. His father was an actor, producer, writer, and director of underground films. Growing up in Greenwich Village, NY, Downey attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate NY. When his parents divorced, he went to CA with his father where he dropped out of Santa Monica High School to, of course, pursue acting full-time. So, he’s obviously not the prodigy inventor he portrays, but he sure loves acting.
 

Danny Boyle
Before he directed edgy films like Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Sunlight, and 28 Days Later, this film director actually considered becoming a priest. He was discouraged from pursuing that career path by a priest. He went on to study at Thornleigh Salesian College and University of Wales, Bangor. With a best director Oscar in his grasp, it looks like the film thing worked out pretty well, and he doesn’t have to worry about wearing those uncomfortable-looking robes.
 

David Fincher
This Benjamin Button director grew up in Marin County, CA, before moving to Ashland, OR, in his teens. From the age of 8, he began shooting films on an 8mm camera. Cool trivial tidbit: before directing Seven, Fight Club, and Zodiac, Fincher worked for the granddaddy of special effects studios, Industrial Light and Magic, working on films like Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Caaalllliii maaahhhh!). His first directing gig was Aliens 3. Betcha didn’t know that.
 

The debate is not a new one. Self-made entrepreneurs thumb their noses at their school-going counterparts, insisting that you can’t learn to be successful in school, that the really important lessons can only be gained through real-world experience. They will even go so far as to claim that education is just an unsubstantial stamp of approval with very little value behind it. To these lucky few, I would say the following…

First, for every self-made millionaire who rejected higher education and hit the big time, there are thousands of other degree-less workers who will be forced to settle for low-paying, unsatisfying jobs for the rest of their careers. You see, the anti-college millionaire is the exception rather than the rule. Meanwhile, those others who decided to skip college find themselves under a very low glass ceiling. They make up the vast majority of those who skip higher education. Those who work while their peers go to school may find themselves making more initially. But the statistics plainly show that their degree-holding peers quickly and uniformly surpass them in pay and promotions.

An old adage says, "Experience is the best teacher." Numerous other adages, however, say, "Learning from others’ experience is best of all." In essence, that is what higher education is, a collection of the experience, successes, and mistakes of the past. It gives students exposure to knowledge, concepts, and people that they would never have known otherwise. Beyond just career success, education imbues individuals with awareness beyond their day-to-day world. I believe this trait is called being well-rounded.

Am I rejecting the value of real-world experience? Absolutely not. Experience is an invaluable companion to education, and it becomes proportionately more important as one’s career progresses. I am opposed, however, to those who would devalue education as a foundation for success. Common sense does not support their claims. The statistics certainly do not support their claims.

Don’t kid yourself! School is the best way to build a foundation for the rest of your career. Of course, ultimate success will depend largely on how the individual chooses to perform after school. But there can be no denying that school is the best way to start.

Come this Sunday, the eyes of millions of Americans will be glued to their TVs. Hours before the ceremony even starts, media parasites will swarm around the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood blabbing endlessly about who will win this award or that award, what they will wear. The excitement will get turned up a notch when the stars arrive. They will look like they just want to get inside, get their gift bags, and partake of the free champagne as the ugly media leeches sidle up to them and ask them questions. The look on the stars’ faces will say, “Standing next to you makes me nauseous, but I’ll be cordial so you don’t defame me all over the tabloids tomorrow morning.” Once the bloodsuckers have had their fill, the stars will make their way inside, the music will swell, and the massive self-congratulatory and self-promoting pat on the back that is the Academy Awards will ensue.