The value of a fine education

Harvard and Yale are two esteemed institutions that groom young men and women to become rich. For years that meant banking, Wall Street, the law, church treasurer. But sometime in the 80’s they discovered there were big bucks to be had in Hollywood writing comedy.

Thar’s gold in them thar’ jokes! Forget Milton Friedman. Hello Budd Friedman.

So out they came, the best and the brightest, America’s future leaders, turning sitcom writing staffs into ZBT chapters.

But does an Ivy League education really make a difference?

When my partner, David and I were writing for the SIMPSONS, one day during a story conference David took a poll. He asked where everyone went to school. You can guess their answers. David nodded then recapped, “So you went to Harvard, Harvard, Harvard, Yale, Harvard, Harvard. Well I went to the University of Miami and I’m doing the same job as YOU.”

Write funny. Harvard and Yale can’t win at football either.