I don't agree that 20 Under 20 is a stab at changing the educational system. Nor is 20 Under 20 very much like YC. The projects that the Thiel Fellows are under

I don't agree that 20 Under 20 is a stab at changing the educational system. Nor is 20 Under 20 very much like YC. The projects that the Thiel Fellows are undertaking are not all money making enterprises. Many of them are attempts at disrupting current trends without the explicit goal of gaining profit. The 20 Under 20 program is for those who have great ideas but no money with which to see them come to fruition on their own. Many of the Thiel Fellows have already undertaken 3rd level studies but the majority have not, and the Thiel Fellowship is not meant to be a condensed college replacement. It's a platform from which the Fellows can launch their ideas. Education is a very broad term. We shouldn't limit it to what happens on a college campus, but I think that we should bear in mind that for the majority of people a college setting works best for their development, both social and intellectual.