In my case, based on a lifetime of experience, I could never agree with this. I am in total agreement with everything that Samsara has posted so far.
No, back in high school, my teenage self was really short-sighted. He just wanted to pass the course and be better than others. He was exposed to Amway, and thought he could become a millionaire through that. Good thing he didn't drop out of school and do Amway full-time, since he lacked sales training, persuasion skills, and interpersonal skills.
Whoa, highly intelligent self starters benefit from college? In what way other than being 4 years behind and for the unlucky in debt.
sometimes you don't know you like something until you are exposed to it so they just try to expose kids to different things a "well rounded" education after that, it's up to you but until you drop out, no door is closed
Probably not much? Okay. Based on what? Hearsay from <i>unicorns</i>. On one hand you're in denial of statistics. That alone is unfortunate. My questions about percentages were highly relevant, but I get it... this is ET. To the crux of the matter, what you did is speculate that a whole cohort of billionaires find no value in their education, despite the fact that investment in this new economy emanates from the educational centers of Palo Alto or Cambridge. I think the subject here is ultimately your own value system. Freud called that process of throwing one's own demons onto the outside world "projection." Sartre took it a step further in his reading of an Aesop parable about sour grapes, which is a good read if you can find it. If you didn't dig college, or didn't even go, I get it. It probably was a waste. But maybe your life experience doesn't map to the totality, know what I mean?
Which is exactly what you're doing. No surprise. "This is ET", after all Little hot under the collar there, bud. Try and relax. I guess being challenged isn't a normal thing for you? Lemmie guess, you're a university professor? haha As for the study, who gives a shit. It's relevance is limited by it's selection bias. College doesn't create intelligence and drive, the real keys to success. You can say whatever you want. Solid proof exists on both sides. College isn't a prerequisite to anything, especially huge fortune. Sorry, you bought the lie, hook line and sinker. Take comfort in the fact student debt is 1 Trillion dollars. Sucker born everyday, right?
College undergrads can receive the award. I have to insist that this is an award, not a scholarship as it is peddled. Because I don't think it encourages 'scholarship': One of the 20-under-20 kids, spammed his/her entire university's email as a prank under legitimate email addresses. This was right after he/she knew he had it in his/her bag and on a week of exams - so everyone's inbox was flooded when they needed it the most. Didn't so much as apologize. Another of the 20-under-20 kids came from an affluent family that spent an incredulous amount of money to fuel his/her success. Kid always had what he/she wants, so he/she had a goal that was totally out-of-touch with reality. But Thiel sponsored him/her anyway. 1 year later, after having traveled around Europe doing seemingly nothing, he/she seemed to have realized the rose-tinted naivete of his/her ambitions when tested against scientific bounds, and simply dropped his/her goals to become an investor with that money.
Ah, I intuited correctly. You didn't buy the lie, hook, line, and sinker. But, you have intelligence and drive, which is really what makes those billionaires successful. Amirite? Fact is, in this country, the biggest predictor of future earnings is... how wealthy your parents are. The top boarding schools get you into the top colleges get you the programming education and connections to give you a shot at being the next CEO of Twitter. In the Bay Area there's what looks to be a bubble again, as everyone has a start-up and a chunk of them are getting bought. If you're trying to figure out the magic sauce to hit the big numbers, chances are the boat's already passed.
Ugh. Not very surprised, but still... I'd be curious to read about some of those funded. Yeah, this gold rush mentality fueling students' plans for either college or starting a company... that's the real poisonous result of the boom and SV culture (in my humble opinion). It skews people to think that Thiel's approach actually has any bearing on how the rest of the world works.