> I think the point is that college exposes you to unlike-minded people. You can find plenty of people who share your interests on IRC or Hacker News. You can a

> I think the point is that college exposes you to unlike-minded people. You can find plenty of people who share your interests on IRC or Hacker News. You can also find people who don't share your interests on the Internet, but realistically, you won't. This ‘like-unlike-minded’ categorization seems dubious to me. It can be said as well that college throws together the like-minded (they all felt the need to go to college); and Hacker News throws together the unlike-minded (because vaguely IT-related interests is all we have in common). > [College] throws you together with people that you would never hang out with by choice, and so forces you to broaden your perspective. Plausible, though it remains your speculation (you went to college). I don’t see how college is radically different from working in various workplaces with respect to perspective-broadening. > But there's something that changes in your brain when you're forced to re-examine your most basic beliefs from the perspective of someone who doesn't share them, and it's a transferrable skill. Related: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/11/05/dont-surround-yourself-with-smarter-people/ http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/11/05/dont-surround-yourself-..., a great essay that expounds on this point.