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I think Thiel is grossly underestimating the value in college, especially for the students in this Fellowship. Thiel argues (elsewhere) that college is only wor

by atpaino 14y ago

I think Thiel is grossly underestimating the value in college, especially for the students in this Fellowship. Thiel argues (elsewhere) that college is only worthwhile if you have a good idea of what you hope to get out of it. I completely disagree. For most people, college is the time that you discover your interests and figure out what you want to do with your life. Even for these students, who seem to know exactly what they want to do, college is invaluable. It's not a coincidence that most of the major tech companies of the world (Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc.) were started while their founders were in college. In many ways, it is the perfect incubator: you have plenty of domain experts readily available to talk to, a good supply of smart tech people, and no requirement that your startup make any money yet. So, IMHO, Thiel is doing a disservice to these students by paying them to drop out.

mindcrime 14y ago
For most people, college is the time that you discover your interests and figure out what you want to do with your life. Is there any evidence that attending college is the only avenue to accomplishing those ends? I personally think that it looks that way simply because most people go to college during the years that they "discover your interests and figure out what you want to do with your life." Building a startup strikes me as an equally valid way to explore possibilities, discover interests, and figure things out.
- atpaino 14y ago
  I'm certainly not arguing college is the only way, just the most common. I'm sure some people may figure things out through doing a startup, but in most cases (this Fellowship being an exception) they won't have as many resources at their disposal as they would at a college.
rdl 14y ago
I think you overestimate the implied value of going directly from high school to 4 year college to potentially graduate school. Taking a year or two off in the middle of that to explore things OUTSIDE college, particularly if being paid $50k/yr to do it, seems perfectly reasonable. If you have great traction in what you're doing, stick with it -- otherwise you still have the option of going back to school.
- atpaino 14y ago
  I agree with you on this, but it seems like most (if not all) of the students in the article have zero traction thus far. Hence the overly abstract and idealistic descriptions of their projects. A fair amount haven't even started college.
  - rdl 14y ago
    The idea isn't that their projects are super impressive, but that they themselves are impressive (by having done some stuff), and will use 2y in the bay area to find and do awesome things. The article kind of misleads. They will probably stick to their areas of interest (bio people, etc.), but their specific project is likely to be something new.

by atpaino 14y ago

mindcrime 14y ago

For most people, college is the time that you discover your interests and figure out what you want to do with your life. Is there any evidence that attending college is the only avenue to accomplishing those ends? I personally think that it looks that way simply because most people go to college during the years that they "discover your interests and figure out what you want to do with your life." Building a startup strikes me as an equally valid way to explore possibilities, discover interests, and figure things out.

atpaino 14y ago
I'm certainly not arguing college is the only way, just the most common. I'm sure some people may figure things out through doing a startup, but in most cases (this Fellowship being an exception) they won't have as many resources at their disposal as they would at a college.

rdl 14y ago

I think you overestimate the implied value of going directly from high school to 4 year college to potentially graduate school. Taking a year or two off in the middle of that to explore things OUTSIDE college, particularly if being paid $50k/yr to do it, seems perfectly reasonable. If you have great traction in what you're doing, stick with it -- otherwise you still have the option of going back to school.

atpaino 14y ago
I agree with you on this, but it seems like most (if not all) of the students in the article have zero traction thus far. Hence the overly abstract and idealistic descriptions of their projects. A fair amount haven't even started college.
- rdl 14y ago
  The idea isn't that their projects are super impressive, but that they themselves are impressive (by having done some stuff), and will use 2y in the bay area to find and do awesome things. The article kind of misleads. They will probably stick to their areas of interest (bio people, etc.), but their specific project is likely to be something new.