Online Universities Weblog

As a college student, you may sometimes wonder how valuable your formal education really is. Your tuition doesn’t just pay for classes, though: you’re also receiving valuable career training and the opportunity to explore different subjects before setting out on a professional path. These inspiring figures, however, accomplished a great deal with minimal or no formal education, becoming U.S. Presidents, well-known journalists, writers and scientists. Read on for our list of 10 incredibly inspiring self-taught scholars.

1. Abraham Lincoln: As the 16th President of the United States who ended slavery and united the country after the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln is widely recognized as one of the greatest leaders in American history. Lincoln, though, grew up humbly in a one-room log cabin in the early 1800s in Kentucky and Illinois. Lincoln’s mother died when he was very young, but he and his stepmother were close. Though Lincoln only had a few months of formal education in a small backwoods school, he is known as having been a voracious reader who devoured the Bible and Shakespeare while growing up. Even as a politician, Lincoln visited the Library of Congress to build up his education and read for his own personal and professional development.
2. Albert Einstein: Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein is one of the most famous and admired scientists and scholars in the world, even after his death in 1955. Born in Ulm in the German Empire in 1879, Einstein is today credited with discovering the special theory of relativity, photon theory, quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, and many other important theories. But despite these genius contributions to science, Einstein had a difficult time being accepted at school. He attended primary and secondary school, though he first failed his entrance exam. During school, Einstein worked on his own projects and rejected the teaching styles that his schools adhered to. Einstein also ended up studying at the Polytechnic in Zurich, but was never completely accepted by his peers until much later in his career. Much of Einstein’s most significant learning milestones include theories he wrote himself or relationships he had with his parent’s friends.
3. Walter Cronkite: Walter Cronkite, also known as "the most trusted man in America" during his 19-year tenure as CBS Evening News anchorman during the 1960s and 70s, is regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States. The Missouri-born Cronkite, who died in 2009, attended junior high and high school in Houston, TX, and attended the University of Texas for two years before dropping out in 1935. Cronkite learned journalism by working in the field himself, interviewing people for news and sports stories as a newspaperman and then working at a radio station in Oklahoma City. Cronkite later joined the U.S. Air Force during World War II and credited that part of his life as a significant learning experience.
4. Walter Pitts: Walter Pitts was an important logician and mathematician who made significant contributions to the cognitive sciences, psychology, artificial intelligence, and the generative sciences. As a boy growing up in Detroit, Pitts read works like Principia Mathematica to learn logic and math, and he also taught himself Greek and Latin at just 10 years old. At 15, Pitts sat in on classes at the University of Chicago to listen to lectures by Principia Mathematica’s author, Bertrand Russell. Pitts never enrolled as a student and eventually collaborated with Warren McCullouch and Norbert Wiener on developing their theories.
5. Benjamin Franklin: As one of the most inspirational and influential figures in American history, Benjamin Franklin enjoyed a career in politics and political theory, science, international relations, writing and media, printing, city development, social justice and more. As a young boy growing up in Boston, Franklin was part of a huge family, and his parents could only afford to send him to school for two years. After withdrawing from the Boston Latin School, Franklin educated himself by reading and then becoming an apprentice to his brother in the printing business, at the age of 12.
6. George Bernard Shaw: The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote many important plays, novels and short stories that influenced society, economics, politics, pop culture and the literary community. Some of his most famous works include Pygmalion, for which he won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar, Man and Superman, Saint Joan, and The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism. Shaw grew up in a struggling family in Dublin. He attended three different grammar and day schools and disrespected the operations and style of formal education. When he was a teenager, Shaw’s mother moved to London with his sisters while he worked for his father as clerk in a real estate office. He eventually moved to London, where he frequented the British Museum and the public libraries to supplement his previous education.
7. Charles Dickens: Considered one of the greatest and most popular authors in literary history, Charles Dickens authored many significant works like The Adventures of Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities, as well as many non-fiction works, short stories and plays. Dickens’s works are laced with biting social, political and economic satire, which commented on the restrictive attitudes of the Victorian era while pleasing his readers. Dickens was born into a large family in Hampshire, England, in 1812, and spent much of his boyhood either outdoors or reading. He attended school as a young boy in Chatham until his father was sent to debtor’s prison. Dickens began working at a a warehouse when he was just 12 years old.
8. George Washington: The first President of the United States George Washington enjoyed a distinguished military career during the French and Indian War and American Revolution before being elected as president in 1789. Born in 1732 in Virginia, George Washington never went to school but was taught by his brother and father at home. As a teenager and young man, Washington worked as a surveyor for the Colony of Virginia, which proved very useful during his time as a military commander.
9. Peter Jennings: Peter Jennings, a hugely popular and well-respected journalist and ABC World News Tonight anchorman during the 1980s through the early 2000s, was never fond of school and considers his time as a field reporter in the Middle East and Europe as his formal education. Jennings was born and raised in Ontario and was the son of Charles Jennings, a respected radio broadcaster for the CBC. Jennings never achieved academic success while in shool and dropped out of both Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. He joined the media and broadcasting industry and ended up as ABC where he was the youngest anchor in the country. Jennings, however, wasn’t experienced enough and left the anchor seat to travel and work as a foreign correspondent for ABC until he was able to prove himself as an educated journalist.
10. John Greenleaf Whittier: John Greenleaf Whittier, one of the Fireside Poets along with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and other New England poets, was vocally instrumental in the abolition movement during the 19th century. Born on a farm in Massachusetts, Whittier was raised a Quaker and worked to put himself through school. He graduated high school in two years, working as a teacher and shoemaker while also studying poetry. Whittier never attended college and instead began working as the editor of a Boston weekly paper. He continued in journalism and worked at the influential New England Weekly Review and was also a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Top Online Colleges

	University of Phoenix - Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, & Doctoral Degrees. University of Phoenix shows each student how easy and convenient it is to earn your college degree through their distance learning program. Students can choose to learn at home or from a campus location near you.
	Kaplan University - Associate's, Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. Kaplan University is a dynamic institution that offers accredited, online degrees to students seeking to jump start a new career. Kaplan University makes it easy for students to get the college degree that they want.
	American InterContinental University Online - Associate's, Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. At American InterContinental University, every individual has an opporunity to receive an excellent college degree and the ability to maximize their human potential. American InterContinental University allows you to pick a time and place that fits your schedule.
	Ashford University - Associate's, Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. Ashford University has a rich tradition of online educational excellence. This excellence is shown in the quality of each class that every student receives.
	Grand Canyon University - Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. Offering graduate and undergraduate degrees, Grand Canyon University is ideal for any individual, first-time students or working professionals, to pursue a degree toward their career of interest. Their excellence in online education has brought many students to attend the university.
	Liberty University - Associate's, Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. At Liberty University, students educational goals and needs are met by an outstanding faculty and support staff. Any adult learner looking to go back to school will be pleased with the course offerings available at Liberty University.
	DeVry University - Associate's, Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. Students who attend DeVry University are welcomed with an outstanding faculty who put each students needs and dreams first. DeVry University is an accredited university that offers affordable degrees.
	Colorado Technical University - Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's & Doctoral Degrees. As a well-known, accredited online university, Colorado Technical University is committed to developing great leaders. They teach students the latest techniques, methods, skills and experience needed to succeed in the fast-paced economy.
	Everest University - Associate's, Bachelor's, & Master's Degrees. Everest University is committed to the on-going commitment of providing each student with a high-quality, low-cost online education. Everest University has a well rounded faculty with real world experience.
	Strayer University - Associate's & Bachelor's Degrees. Westwood College uses a student-centric approach to its educational curriculum and each student benefits from this ideal. Westwood College is an accredited university with degrees in high-growth industries.

Did you enjoy this article?