Mr. T Had the Secret to Long Life — “Don’t Be a Fool, Stay in School”

Decades ago, Mr. T made a public service announcement in which he extolled the virtues of staying in school.  He did not, however, realize that his advice was the closest thing to the fountain of youth for which Juan Ponce de León searched.

According to Gina Kolata, A Surprising Secret to a Long Life: Stay in School, NY Times, Jan. 3, 2007, “[t]he one social factor that researchers agree is consistently linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education. It is more important than race; it obliterates any effects of income. * * * [T]hose factors that are popularly believed to be crucial — money and health insurance, for example, pale in comparison.”

Special thanks to Neil E. Hendershot of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania law firm of Goldberg Katzman, P.C., who also authors the PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog, for bringing this article to my attention.