Steven Robbins here. Welcome to the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Listener Magenta writes in, why is it so many A students who were the best at studying and learning

do not actually get ahead in real life situations? Oh, Magenta, you've stumbled on to the myth of meritocracy. I was privileged and

cursed to attend two of the best schools in the world, MIT and Harvard. I know many A students,

some of them are astoundingly successful, and many do not know how to be success in real life.

Today we'll break format a bit, and instead of a specific tip, I'll be sharing some thoughts

on life, how to be successful, and so on.

There are different kinds of getting ahead.

Getting ahead might mean being socially mobile, that is, going from poor to rich through

hard work.

America once had lots of social mobility, and we still believe that we have it, but we

don't. Statistics, unfortunately, bear that out. Norway, Sweden, and Germany have far more social

mobility than America does. Once, top students could get into top colleges and still pay off

their student loans soon enough to move up in the world. That was how to be a success.

No longer.

Now things can be worse for top students.

More educational loans are privatized with high interest rates.

Great for banks? Bad for students.

In 2005, banks promoted some shameful, shameful legislation that Congress shamefully passed,

making it so that student loans can't even be discharged in bankruptcy.

Now, the best financial decision for smart people who aren't rich may be to skip college

and take a mediocre career that wastes their talent but doesn't land them $200,000 in debt.

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