Since he seems to be referring to career success specifically, it does not seem that weird. There is a significant opportunity cost associated with school, not

Since he seems to be referring to career success specifically, it does not seem that weird. There is a significant opportunity cost associated with school, not to mention the proclivity to pigeonhole oneself with increasing opportunity spent (the sunk cost fallacy). It is natural to think, from a career perspective, one is better off without that baggage. It is true that the statistics show that those who are born with the right traits to succeed in life are more likely to do well in school and in the workplace, which is unsurprising. Life is a gradient, but when we take it to the logical extreme, it becomes quite apparent that someone with a crippling mental disability is not going to be able to go far in school, nor are they going to be a top choice to do business with. But that does not mean that there are not cases where people who are born with the right traits slip through the system. The education system is big and complex and sometimes fails. Someone with successful traits does not lose their successful traits from that experience. That said, I agree that there is more to life than career success. The enrichment that school could have provided him may have made his life better in other ways.