On College

Peter Thiel, one of the co-founders of Pay Pal wrote about how the "We're in a Bubble, but it's not the internet. Thiel says it's higher education, in an interview which I will post here: http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/10/peter-thiel-were-in-a-bubble-and-its-not-the-internet-its-higher-education/.

Thiel is a highly intelligent individual, as the article describes a natural contrarian which seemingly seems unnecessary but this mindset has lead him to have a prescience that helped him avoid the dotcom and housing bubbles. This is old news, of course; this article came out in 2011 and I'm now writing about it. It is appropriate that I write about it now, however, because I am closing in on my first year from graduating from college. I have often thought about whether or not my college experience was worth it, especially since I'm a career switcher from my degree.

I agree with Thiel on several points. You don't need Stanford, Yale, or Harvard to become successful. You also shouldn't come into college with a mentality that once you graduate your ticket is set and you will come out earning $100K and have a house and kids. That's bull. You will struggle. You will have to work asinine jobs, earning barely enough. The future isn't bleak though.

The unfortunate thing is that majors in the social sciences and the humanities are saturated in markets that are predicated about scientific industry and service (ie those pesky business and science degrees that seem uncool). Also, we haven't truly developed a knowledge sector job market like other countries (who also have lesser populations). The truth of the matter is, real life sucks and college will not save you. You'll develop soft skills, and various mechanisms that will enable you to be apt critical thinkers for the job market, but businesses-especially now-want experience.

What we need to do isn't follow Thiel and believe college isn't necessary (he also graduated from Stanford and Stanford Law), but eliminate the stigma of not going to college. College isn't for everyone. This is pertinent in some people's minds when they look at a lot of internet and Silicon Valley billionaires who did not complete college a la Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and others. Also understand, though, that a lot of these individuals didn't need college, and also understand that many of the engineers behind the devices used and really the forefathers of the Computer age were college educated. Tim Berners-Lee innovated the "world wide web" and also went to Queens College, Oxford and now serves at MIT as a professor. Dennis Ritchie who helped pioneer C language and the Unix operating system went to another elitist school Harvard, and really anyone at Bell Labs and Texas Instruments were highly educated individuals who work 9 to 5 and were the opposite of Silicon Valley people.

I would like to know how many Apple employees are dropouts like Jobs and how many have advanced engineering degrees from top tier universities.

...

There's that great scene in 'Good Will Hunting' where Will is confronted by that elitist douche from Harvard about history, where the guy lifted his lines about agrarian economy in the 18th century from Gordon S. Wood. Though the Harvard guy is put in his (rightful) place the guy retorts to Will that while Will may have read the same books for less money that guy will be successful and Will will end up serving burgers.
Truth is, the Harvard guy is right. Will is too; there's nothing inherently special about the curriculum of a college or university that can't be done with really dedicated reading and home projects. The Harvard guy will get the better end of the stick (in real life) not because he learned anything more than Will. Thing is, Will's lazy. He doesn't really use his mathematics or academic knowledge for any end. That Harvard guy is someone who probably does; he's not hearing a professor talk about Gordon S. Wood, he's probably given the opportunities to work on major historical research because his professor is Gordon S. Wood's best friend.

College isn't about just going to class and eventually after four years of going to class getting a degree and winning at life. It's about using the resources that your college can afford through personnel to understand how be great at your field. Of course someone who just goes to Biology classes isn't going to find a job. If you go to UGA and major in Family and Consumer Sciences  and all you do is go to class, versus say someone who goes to a "lesser" college like Kennesaw State University and majors in Early Childhood Education and spends her time watching classes, works a job in childcare, and later student teaches at a school, you're not going to get a job probably before the latter individual. Remember those rednecks (or seemingly white trash) who didn't care about English or History and spent time talking about cars? Thing is, they went to trade school, picked up a trade like plumbing or refrigeration, and now they're earning $40K coming out with a two year or less degree. Why? Because they chose an opportunity to go to school that gives them practical experience.

Really, that's the problem with college. You shouldn't go to college without planning to work hard in non-curriculum based activities. The reason Harvard is so damn good isn't because they have an astonishing curriculum, it's because they have a really nice endowment. So if you want to be a journalist you can get the same knowledge of the field by going to wherever, but thing is if you go to Harvard you might be taught by someone who wrote for the New York Times, because Harvard can afford it. Hell, Harvard's newspaper is probably better than some professional newspapers, and that's what colleges can provide. They're Houses of Wisdom, and it's really up to you to maximum on its resources of people (both faculty and personnel) and other amenities. These opportunities are more fruitful and accessible through college. You can get them while  not going to college, but it is more difficult.

While Thiel is right, and ultimately is richer than I am, I don't completely agree with his "college is outdated" mentality. College and universities have a great utility, but it shouldn't be a stigma not to college. If you can make it without the resources of universities, more power to you. Just understand, nine times out of ten the Harvard guy is right.

I just hope that he would grow up to not be a douche.