<p>"I disagree with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel I want people to stay in college if they possibly can, rather than dropping out to work full time on startups. I want people to take art history, to broaden their knowledge of literature, world religions, history, political science and foreign languages, among other subjects." ...</p>
<p>Opinion.</p>
<p>Given the lenient withdrawal and readmission policies at many colleges, “dropping out” to attempt something entrepreneurial may not be all that great a risk (unless the venture is not funded by anything other than personal debt). If the venture fails, the person can go back to school and complete his/her degree, possibly with more motivation then than before.</p>
<p>Of course, each college’s withdrawal and readmission policy needs to be checked by a student considering this.</p>
<p>But the point is that this situation is not like a more typical “drop out” situation involving failing academic performance, or running out of money to attend school.</p>
<p>There’s only so much time in life with all the energy and enthusiasm of youth to make some things happen. I’m still broadening my horizons probably more so than I ever did in school. and I’m getting old! Art history and foreign language can wait–unless your plan is to go to a foreign country and specialize in art…
Often, a great idea/business can NOT wait–it would be left in the dust or capitalized on by someone else.</p>
<p>I went to college for a year and was recruited into a position which led to other positions including starting a company with a friend of mine. Yes, I missed out on a bunch of college stuff but I had a lot of interesting business, technical and travel opportunities and got the degrees for free later on anyways.</p>
<p>You can always go to school. You can’t always get a job.</p>
<p>There you have it.</p>
<p>^Yes, this. You can always go back to school. Take advantage of opportunities; college will always be here!</p>
<p>College may “always be there,” but the more time you spend on leave from school, the less likely you are to ever go back.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone except ghostt.
The love of learning and attending college can be 2 separate things. H loves to read books about physics, chemistry, history etc and is much more interested in learning things than he ever was in college. Why does one have to go to college to learn, if one is motivated on their own? Second, I know some adults who entered college in their 40s or 50s. If a person is “unlikely” to return to college after taking say 5-10 years to pursue work, then were they really interested in attending college in the first place?</p>
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<p>This does apply with many who are late 20s onward. It’s a combination of being weighed down by jobs, life responsibilities to family, financial constraints, feeling one’s “too old” for a college education, societal expectations of milestones at certain “appropriate age”, etc. </p>
<p>The ones who are exceptions to this I know are almost always exceptional people in dealing with all of those whether it’s the mother of a younger college friend who was so inspired by her kids that she graduated with her younger D to a man going back to finish his college degree in his late 40s at my LAC.</p>
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<p>You don’t have to go anywhere.</p>
<p>I worked with a guy that was a project leader of our group and I was surprised to find that he didn’t have his BS. He was working on it via correspondence at a well-known Canadian university. He got his degree while working full-time, married and raising a daughter. He then picked up an MS at a local school and went through the promotion process to become a Consulting Engineer at our company and then later went to a big tech company on the West Coast.</p>
<p>Today it’s a lot easier to get a degree without physically going to college. I’d guess that the numbers of adults doing this are huge.</p>
<p>You can be self educated. Education need not be a formal school setting. If you have the right idea, are very motivated, and good at business, there is no need to stay in a formal education setting to progress. As your business grows, you can self educate, take courses or even go into a formal education setting. There is a balance between education and creativity. At times, education can put on the blinders to other opportunities; other times it can open your eyes to other oppportunities. There is no one answer for everyone; nor one path that will fit all. You do need to know yourself very well if you are starting out on your own; and many kids at age 17 - 19 would not have the self knowledge or skills. However there are many that do. No one solution for all. Kids keep your eyes, ears and minds open no matter what you do, and push forward on your education whether it be formal or informal / self educated.</p>
<p>If a student has a real, sustainable opportunity, they ought to take it, imho. School is always going to be available.</p>
<p>Actually, I posit that in the next 5-10 years, really excellent distance and coursera type degrees will be readily available from excellent institutions. Already Stanford does online graduate degrees. How far behind can everybody else be?</p>
<p>It isn’t either/or.</p>
<p>Graduating from college with a degree is an investment for your future. Many ‘start-up’ companies never make it and then you have no degree if you dropped out …then what do you do??? No need to rush into things, spend the 4 yrs, get a degree and then you will have plenty of time to pursue other opportunities.</p>
<p>^dont agree. Good ideas - the type an entrepreneur may have - don’t come along on a time table; a person may have only one in their entire life. Seizing that idea and running with it- even running into failure - means that person is following a passion. If you don’t run with the idea, someone else might.</p>
<p>College will be there the rest of your life; a good idea probably has a limited shelf life and window upon which a competitive edge can be built.</p>
<p>Some pundits postulate that college education is largely irrelevant and that college-aged kids instead need to “go out and do” , while on the other hand psychologists now believe that college students are still kids who won’t reach adult maturity until about age 26 and other industry-leaders wring their hands about under-educated and ill-prepared high school grads in workplace. Thiel’s opinions are perky sound-bites rather than valid observation.</p>
<p>Where would Michael Dell be if he had postponed expanding his company so he could graduate?</p>
<p>College tends to teach you things that are already known or things that have already been done, at least at the undergraduate level. If you have a new idea or some really interesting improvements, then you may be much better off going without the degree. There are some obvious examples of this. Sometimes your idea may be time-sensitive - if you don’t strike while the iron is hot, it may be lost to someone else. Or it might just be the right time for you.</p>
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<p>“Blake Aaron Ross (born June 12, 1985) is an American software developer who is known for his work on the Mozilla web browser; in particular, he started the Mozilla Firefox project with Dave Hyatt, as well as the Spread Firefox project with Asa Dotzler while working as a contractor at the Mozilla Foundation. In 2005, he was nominated for Wired magazine’s top Rave Award, Renegade of the Year, opposite Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Jon Stewart. He was also a part of Rolling Stone magazine’s 2005 hot list.[1] He has most recently worked for Facebook as Director of Product. He resigned on February 22, 2013.”</p>
<p>[Blake</a> Ross - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Ross]Blake”>Blake Ross - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Sometimes your skills mean much, much more than a degree does. Director at Facebook without a degree at 27-years-old. Not too shabby.</p>
<p>If it’s really a good idea, there is no reason not to get involved. </p>
<p>Life is long. You can always finish college.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the idea of just don’t go to college for some other reason. But if there is a reason and you can support yourself, why would you not go for it and finish up as you go on?</p>
<p>Charlie Trotter, just to get off the tech idea, an incredibly gifted and succesful four star chef, just closed his restuarant to go back to school. He is our age. Do you think he suffered? I don’t.</p>
<p>““In order to succeed, we’re going to have to be as efficient as our competitors, and make decisions quickly,” Bell says. He’s considering a major jolt to Chasma’s culture: a requirement that all managers work from 9 to 5, five days a week. That could mean asking the college students to shuffle their schedules, and it could even entail hiring grown-ups. It would radically increase Chasma’s payroll, and chief operating officer Andy Eross worries that conflicts might flare up when ancient “35-year-olds have to take orders from teens.””</p>
<p>“But, according to Bell, Chasma needs to change yet again: “It’s frustrating to tell a customer that they need to wait until 4 p.m. for an answer to a question because someone isn’t back from driver’s ed yet.””</p>
<p>[Big</a> Biz–After Gym - Newsweek and The Daily Beast](<a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2002/05/12/big-biz-after-gym.html]Big”>http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2002/05/12/big-biz-after-gym.html)</p>
<p>I believe that the company was bought out by one of the big tech companies or the employees were bought out. The guy running the place got something close to $200K. One of the kids that worked there is the son of a friend - he worked at a corporate job for a while and then got his BS in an exotic location and is working as a development manager now. You can always go to school. This guy probably didn’t need to go to school because he had so much experience but it’s something that he wanted to do.</p>
<p>I am under the impression Thiel’s scholarships are for people not to go to college after high school rather than drop out of college.</p>
<p>So I am trying to figure out if the writer even has a point or he believes that Thiel is encouraging people to drop out of college?</p>