You get the gist of
this NY Mag article. Not only are most degrees granted to students who
will never use the disciple they studied, but in some cases
(Journalism) can destroy an industry. Ask most kids why they're
studying economics and I bet they answer "to get a decent job."
In Economics? Hell no. Any job. If you want to get hired by
any company today, with the goal of moving into management, you'll have
to produce a degree. Does it matter what the degree is in?
Nope. It shows your prospective employer that you had at least
enough ability to get into college, and finish. I remember the
plaintive cry from the 70's; "We're loaded with 5th rate economists,
but nobody can fix the toilet." Guess who's making the big bucks
today? But, I'm carried away here with my own biases and
opinions (as if anything else matters, wot).
“
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Peter
Thiel is a venture capitalist with strong misgivings about college
[...] In
1998, Thiel co-founded PayPal, and six years later, he made the first
angel investment in Facebook. [...] Thiel is deeply skeptical of
top-down R&D and anything that smells like groupthink. [...]
When I spoke to Thiel from his home in San Francisco in late February,
he offered much the same justification for his major salvo in the fight
against college—a philanthropic initiative called 20 Under 20. The
program, also known as the Thiel Fellowship, will award twenty students
19 years old and younger $100,000 each and the mentorship of some of
the most prominent entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. The catch? The
winners have to stay out of college for two years. [ME ME ME! ]
They are to be announced this month.
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Is Thiel onto something? Listen to the reaction from one of our
smug media scolders, and decide.
“
|
Jacob
Weisberg, of Slate, has called the Thiel Fellowship a “nasty” and
narcissistic idea that will retard the participants’ intellectual
development and funnel whatever altruistic energies they have into
getting rich, like Thiel.
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” |
ME
ME ME! This is a long article which explores other
stuff, but which I ain't real it all. |