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Dropping out: Is college worth the cost?

May 20, 2012 4:00 PM

Students with promising ideas are paid $100,000 to drop out of college and become entrepreneurs in a controversial program founded by billionaire Peter Thiel. Morley Safer reports.

Dropping out: Is college worth the cost?

60 Minutes OverTimeMeet the kids who were paid to drop out

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by Gigawood July 1, 2012 10:12 AM EDT
Uhhhh...***? Thiel graduated from Ivy League schools - undergrad AND post grad - and is bribing kids to drop out (at roughly the same price they'd pay for their education)? It'd be one thing if he was either A) asking them to simply DELAY schooling to pursue their visions or B) had come from the same vein as Michael Dell, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates (who really DID drop out of school).

I agree that for-profit schools taking advantage of subsidized loans (and gouging students with overpriced education in the process) is THE major problem of the school debt system - and that the education system is garbage in a lot of cases...but this??? There are far better ways to raise awareness for these problems than encouraging kids to abandon higher education completely. Thiel is engaging in ethically dubious activity - which is fantastic for ratings, but not necessarily good for the kids. I'd feel less uneasy if the prizes awarded were closer to $250,000 or $500,000 - but I'm guessing that would defeat the purpose of his experiment (that is, reducing the opportunity-cost of the capital by requiring less guts to take the money). In that sense, the $100k is a perfect amount, but eeeeeeeesh...

I wish all of these kids the best, in spite of (because of?) Thiel's "backing."
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by John4312 June 5, 2012 9:41 AM EDT
Now that you've given Peter Thiel a chance to spout his nonsense you owe Vivek Wadhwa as much time as you gave Thiel. Not fair to give Thiel his soapbox and neglect to report on the other side.
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by Frustrated_Tom May 29, 2012 2:27 PM EDT
The reality is that those kids chosen will receive more meaningful knowledge through one year of this program than they would learn in four years of University study.
I have been in the employment of a University for more than two decades. In the words of one graduating senior, "College is a joke. The only difference between High School, and college is that the drugs, and alcohol are easier to get."
In no way does the current University experience prepare young people for the real world. They are not treated like adults. Accountability is left to the student senate who's only recourse is twenty to forty hours of community service.
I fail to understand how learning how to spend the night in a tent by the stadium or learning badminton prepares these young adults for a career.
It isn't necessary to actually learn in order to receive a bachelors degree. Nearly two decades ago I was charged with surveying the campus facilities. I was given five student helpers to aid me in this task. I sent them out into different areas of campus to take measurements, and calculate the square footage of those areas. I soon realized that none of them could figure square footage for anything other than a rectangle. These were college sophomores, and juniors who were studying to be teachers, and I had to teach them basic geometry.
In another incident I was enlightened as to how much a student truly needs to learn in order to graduate from college. One summer we had five students working in out department while they took a couple summer classes. The students averaged fifteen hours of work per week. One afternoon they came into work giddy, and laughing. One of the other students asked them what was so funny at which time he was informed that they had just received grades for their summer math class. They stated that the grade curve was so bad that if you had managed to spell your name right when signing up for the class you got a passing grade.
Perhaps someone has finally figured out that real knowledge is more important than a piece of paper.
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by danny-danny May 27, 2012 3:18 AM EDT
wow, I just found this 60 minutes video. It's a strange coincidence because I wrote a letter to Peter just a week before it was broadcast, like a homeless guy that I usually am, hitting people up for money.

Imagine a society ala Brave New World where 20% per cent of the employable population over 25 have college degrees and 80% per cent do not. These are approximately the figures in the United States. With a gross population of about 315 million, the overclass population with superior rights is about 63 million. The rest of us are non-people in this respect, we are not part of their America, and we are supposed to go to you-know-where if we raise our heads. The overclass is protected with degree requirements and licensing requirements. They control the courts, the finance, and the police. This goes far beyond mere snobbery. Does anyone remember what the student deferments did to society during the Vietnam War?

Zuckerberg, Gates, Thiel, Musk, and Jobs would not have succeeded as they did if they hadn't been admitted to very selective schools and had reasonably comfortable family situations. Everyone knows that anyone admitted to an elite school will have the ability to complete a degree and to pay. The academic tuitions are like union dues, and degrees are like tickets to the overclass. Accreditation for the few means discredit for the many. Lack of a happy degree is a constant discomfort.

Here, read one of my satire essays:

http://dhmatbestdotcom.tripod.com/tax.html
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by focalcre May 26, 2012 7:37 PM EDT
That indian professor is so wrong. I know many entrepreneurs that have never completed college or even gone to college who are successful. How dare he say if you don't even have a bachelors degree or basic education you're beyond hope. What a fool. I'm one of those people who dropped out of college and I'm doing just fine In fact my employer required a BA for my position and my talent and proved years of self-taught experienced pushed that door open for me without hesitation. The comment that indian professor made that you need education to spawn the ideas and skills required for success is complete BS. If you are bright, do your research and never go to college, you can still be successful. You just need a passion and some dedication. I support Peter Thiel and his thinking.
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by DDGresham1 May 26, 2012 12:47 PM EDT
This piece failed to mention the fundamental reason that tuition is increasing at three times the rate of inflation: No bankruptcy for student loans. As long as a borrowers wages and social security can be garnished, without a court order, the lending companies will be more than happy to loan incredible amounts. As long as the lending companies will loan large amounts, tuition will go up. As long as tuition goes up, Congress will approve higher amounts available to loan. As long as Congress approves higher loan amounts, lenders will be happy to lend the money. As long as lenders are happy to lend the money...you get the point.
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by Aziza_Cloud May 25, 2012 10:04 PM EDT
Wadhwa approaches the question from an Indian rather than an American standpoint - simply by insisting that a bachelor's degree is equivalent to a basic education. But the results of that ill-thought value system is evident amongst Indians, who have pushed their children towards higher education, and still have some of the worst poverty rates in the world. They have created many college graduates - all highly-educated by Wadhwa's standard - and few of them have jobs, except when they flee their country. That's definitely NOT a model that I would wish for my country to follow.
Thiel's approach has missed an important point, which is that encouraging young people to drop out of university may lead them to waste the money that they have already spent.
Why not sidestep the problem of wasted educational dollars and time by getting rich people and the government to improve our school system and teach all the general and basic vocational knowledge that a person needs to know before they graduate high school? An American high school diploma should no longer be worthless! Occupations like ecretaries, janitors, and low-level managers should not require anything except a high school diploma, since our high school diploma would once again be a goal that typical parents wish for their children. College education would then be required only of "high-tech" professions like physical therapy, medicine, and civil engineering. But those people should not need more than 2-4 years of extra education, since they must have gotten all the basics in high school. This would also resolve many of our social problems, which are caused because people start to want to start their lives once they have reached puberty, but they are being told to wait 10-15 years to do it. If we education our children early, then they can start their lives within 4 years of puberty. We would then save money by putting them into workforce earlier. We would also save social headaches and financial drama. Society could accept marriage at an earlier age instead of having two of the most common choices: creating out-of-wedlock children, and then fighting over paternity or spending thousands of dollars and heartaches trying to procreate when biology is against them. Also, a person would enter the workforce and later or simultaneously enter married life without debt.
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by nyorker1111 May 23, 2012 5:53 PM EDT
The issue I have with Mr.Thiel is his program targets kids who would be successful no matter what they did, and yet targets his ideas as a whole toward kids who need higher education the most. Thats not to say that college is for everyone, or that its smart to take out huge amounts of debt, rather that kids who are average or above education level, but not "harvard level", usually need a college degree. Many professions such as law enforcement, store management jobs, and other require A)a college degree or B)experience(which you usually get from a job that requires a degree).

He is right when he says kids should look at all the options. Vocational jobs, 2 year degrees, and others may suit a person better and cost much less. That being said, a degree, regardless of its validity, is an important and many times curcial thing for many careers. Most kids won't have the option that his research kids will. If they fail, they can go back to very good schools at very young ages. (two of the kids had completed 2+ years and weren't 20 yet)

That all being said, young people should be smart. Look at schools were the degrees get you places. Good career centers, good reputations, solid networking and degrees that actually are useful in the real world. If you want to major in an arts related area, fine. A cousin of mine gruduated from a art school with a graphic and media degree. The school had excellent career service. She now has a good job with a solid home run job on the side.
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by eliza61 May 22, 2012 12:09 PM EDT
Couple of problems with his theory.
1st, like many ivy league schools he weeds out the very best and brightest. there is 90% probability that they will succeed anyway.
So were does that leave the remaining students when they drop out?
Next, with so many jobs requiring college degrees simply to apply, not having one can be a huge disadvantage. Case in Point, NJ state police are hiring. You cannot apply unless you have a 4 year degree or a 2 year degree with 2 years work experience.
I think the problem is not to forgo education but to make education more affordable and worth some thing.
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by unsure300 May 22, 2012 6:07 AM EDT
I believe the part that matters is not education, it is knowledge. When someone does something nobody has ever done before, they act on knowledge gained from experience or books or associations with other subjects not recognized as related; not knowledge taught by educators. Elementary school and high school give a good background and familarity with many subjects. College is mainly a social mixer to aid making babies. People with concrete ideas should ACT, not educate.
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