Author: Nola Jones

Some American success stories are overlooked in favor of the polished, credentialed ones. Among them is Alan Jackson. Jackson, who was born in Newnan, Georgia, on October 17, 1958, did not graduate from a prominent liberal arts college or music conservatory with a degree in songwriting. After graduating from Newnan High School, he joined the local band Dixie Steel and started working as a construction worker, forklift operator, and weekend performer at small clubs. In the truest sense of the word, that was his education. It’s simple to undervalue the true lessons that such an upbringing imparts. Your perspective of…

Blake Lively has an almost paradoxical quality. She portrays elegant, poised women who appear to have everything figured out. Her own educational journey, however, is less of a straight line and more of an improvised one, shaped by timing, industry, and a family that was constantly too busy to stay put. Before completing high school, Lively attended an astounding thirteen different schools. When people hear that number alone, they often pause in the middle of their sentences. The constant re-entry into new social environments, the need to quickly adapt, the need to read rooms, and the need to become fluent…

Some resources don’t make a big deal out of themselves. It doesn’t receive feature spreads in major sports publications or press conferences. Nevertheless, it gradually becomes indispensable—the kind of thing that, once you realize it exists, makes you question how anyone could have survived without it. One such resource is the U.S. Soccer Learning Center. The platform is essentially a learning management system designed to house all of U.S. Soccer’s educational initiatives in one location. Everything is available behind a login screen at learning.ussoccer.com, including coaching curricula, referee education, and performance and health advice. Joining is free. reachable from any…

One of those actors that people seem to already know is Joe Keery. Perhaps it’s the hair. Perhaps it’s the affection he shows Steve Harrington on Stranger Things. Beneath the familiarity of popular culture, however, lies a fairly simple tale of a young man from a small Massachusetts town who took his education seriously, found a theater program that fit him, and made his way into a field that seldom accepts newcomers. He was the second of five children born in April 1992 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It’s a peaceful seaside town to the north of Boston, where extracurricular activities are…

In a time when credentials are more important than ever and resumes need to be polished, Jelly Roll’s story is almost purposefully countercultural. The man who sold out Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena to 15,000 spectators and went on to win three Grammy Awards in 2026 did not complete high school. Don’t ever go on a college campus. He received his education in courtrooms, detention centers, and ultimately a prison classroom, where he eventually obtained his GED at the age of 23. The greater story of his ascent may obscure that particular detail. The music, the weight loss transformation, and the congressional…

Glen Powell left college to pursue a career in Hollywood. He is still trying to finish seventeen years later. One of Hollywood’s most attractive actors spending a portion of his week on Zoom for a lecture on radio, television, and film has a subtle allure. Not because it’s uncommon for celebrities to pursue education, but rather because Glen Powell has spent more than 20 years attempting to complete this same degree at this same university. After graduating from Westwood High School in 2007, Powell enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. He described it as “the greatest year of…

The fact that Rob Reiner, the director of When Harry Met Sally, Stand by Me, and A Few Good Men, never completed his college education has a subtle allure. He built one of the most prestigious directing careers in American film on instinct, observation, and a willingness to stay in rooms where learning was taking place—even if no diplomas were being given out—in an industry that was fixated on credentials and connections. Although Reiner was born in the Bronx in 1947, his early years were spent in Los Angeles after the family moved there when he was a young boy.…

Uncertainty about your child’s academic performance can cause a specific type of anxiety, not in a dramatic sense but in a persistent, everyday manner. A teacher’s missed call. A report card that is delivered weeks after the event. a feeling that you don’t know what happened in class today. The province-wide student information system used throughout British Columbia, MyEducation BC, was developed in part to alleviate that emotion. The system is not brand-new. It has been quietly handling student records, attendance logs, course grades, and graduation tracking in school districts throughout British Columbia for many years. Most parents are probably…

This week marks the end of the school year in Ireland, and for hundreds of students, the holiday carries a weight that is not typically associated with the end of the term. In September, some won’t reopen at all. Some will reopen with fewer teachers, larger class sizes, and worried letters that are already making the rounds in parent WhatsApp groups. A portion of the story is revealed by the numbers. Last year, Ireland’s primary school enrollment decreased by about 6,700 pupils, or slightly more than 1%. That may sound modest. However, even a one percent decline starts a domino…

For fifteen years, the same response was given to anyone who brought up the issue of school patronage in Ireland: there isn’t a genuine desire for reform. It was said with assurance, repeatedly, and occasionally in a tone that implied the question was a little irrational. That specific argument became much more difficult to make after the Department of Education released the findings of its national primary school survey. The figures are startling. According to the survey, 42% of parents who plan to send their preschoolers to a Catholic or religiously run primary school said they would prefer that the…