Thiel Fellows

Following this post, there is a post with a video titled, College Conspiracy. The two posts are closely related. 

Want Success in Silicon Valley? Drop Out of School

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER (excerpt of) Article from NY Times

Bloomberg NewsPeter Thiel

Parents, do you hope that your children have the chance to become like Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder, Facebook investor and hedge fund manager? If so, Mr. Thiel suggests that you encourage them to drop out of school. In fact, he will help by paying them to do it.

On Wednesday, the Thiel Foundation, funded by Mr. Thiel, announced the first group of Thiel Fellows, 24 people under 20 who have agreed to drop out of school in exchange for a $100,000 grant and mentorship to start a tech company.

More than 400 people applied. The winners include Laura Deming, 17, who is developing anti-aging therapies; Faheem Zaman, 18, who is building mobile payment systems for developing countries; and John Burnham, 18, who is working on extracting minerals from asteroids and comets.

The fellowship addresses two of the country’s most pressing problems, Mr. Thiel says: a bubble in higher education and a dearth of Americans developing breakthrough technologies.

Much of the technological talent these days is going into Web sites and apps. Mr. Thiel says he has no problem with those — Facebook has made him a billionaire. But “there’s a more urgent need for innovation” in other areas, he said, like biomedical technology, nanotechnology, transportation and energy.

Mr. Thiel, a contrarian investor and libertarian known for his controversial views, knows that suggesting education is not always worth it strikes at the core of many Americans’ beliefs. But that is exactly why is he doing it.

“We’re not saying that everybody should drop out of college,” he said. The fellows agree to stop getting a formal education for two years but can always go back to school. The problem, he said, is that “in our society the default assumption is that everybody has to go to college.”.....Continue the article here~

(Hopefully in the near future,  the diversity grows to include more people of color and women. Spread the word) Thiel Foundation Website

College Conspiracy

I am very grateful for the education I received, undergraduate and graduate. This video is incredibly insightful, and proves the need to determine whether the cost of college and/or applying for student loans is worth it.

I don't know the answer to that. Education is very valuable to me....however, I also believe education can be attained without college walls. Takes more planning, but well worth the time and thought. Of course, this does not apply to science and medicine, a few other majors. There are creative ways to gain an education however, if one approaches the time frame within the traditional 4-6 year degree path.

Years ago I probably would have never encouraged education outside of college, but everything has changed: the expense is unbelievable, college graduates and Master's program students graduate and cannot spell or construct a grammatically correct sentence, and work is no longer guaranteed. College can be crucial for one's development and intelligence, but so can a well-planned experience where one learns discipline and perseverance through travel; the supplement and augment of weak areas with research and a few online classes; service work that personally feeds the individual; and an apprenticeship path. There is also the philosophy that the invention brainstorming process is cultivated in middle school, whereby students are empowered to solve problems and enhance humanity through contributions of invention. This is what teenagers did before school, and before capitalism.