Sounds like nothing but sour grapes from someone who needs to perniciously defend his ego after wasting 4 years in college and thousands of dollars only to receive a worthless piece of paper.
His argument is based upon the results (or lack of results) of the Thiel foundation. Considering the source (PBS) I would conclude that this is nothing but a state-sponsored propaganda hit piece making an weak argument in favor of an outdated and overpriced institution that will do anything to preserve it's monopoly. Frankly put, anyone with discipline no longer needs to spend $100K and 4 years on college and those that do become complicit to their own economic slavery.
In return, "the state" is guaranteed a continual influx of corporate slaves, milled and machined from the great institution we call college. The poor saps that believe the lie get shackled to a lifetime of debt that can't be bankrupted away-- meanwhile the state is ensured a lifetime of perpetual tax dollars by virtue of your economic slavery to the system by which you willing participated within. All for what? An illusion of a "safe secure" job at some corporation? It's a freaking fantasy and people are waking up to it.
Just something to think about before you take on the cost and the time of college.
I agree with MJ here, I didn't go to college, but I'm just fine as an entrepenuer now (I mean I make enough money to live comfortably in a great place and travel where ever I want).
The true story is that it took me ten years to figure out how RELEVANT entrepenuerialism is. I tried all the stuff you shouldn't do that MJ wrote about in his book (started laughing at his examples because ten years ago I did them word for word), starting up things that nobody wanted, and that lasted about ten years until I was like "ok, I have to sort this out". Entrepenuerialism seems to be many of the guys that made that decision to sort it out properly.
You don't need a college degree, you just need a slap to wake you up and the stones to make it work well enough to survive/enjoy your time.
... Part of the fastlane philosophy as I understand it, is that subsistance is easy to fulfil if you have enough leverage. That leverage comes from MINDSET, and how you approach business.
The idea that you NEED anything from anybody is a mindset that will hold you BACK, and not give you the leverage to make the money you need comfortably. To me if you think that college is the answer to business, you should really start believing in yourself more, because you do not need qualifications to be a CEO, in fact I think about over 50% of all CEO's did not go to college.
Steve jobs got some trivial stuff from college, like caligraphy and stuff, but what made him a success (as portrayed in the recent jobs movie) was that he got out there and made something worth buying.
College gives knowledge but it doesn't give you motivation like that, if it DID, I'd definately go.
From my observations, college has only been the making or breaking factor in particular cases where people miraculously met the right people whilst attending. This usually happens in prominent schools, like with Bill Gates meeting his professor, or Trump meeting the guys (can't remember who) who helped him change his path. Despite the intervention of others through the social aspect of college, the will to succeed seems to be the most pressing factor to me towards a persons actual proclivity towards success in business.
Not all people can be successful as entrepenuers, but, I think that comes down to people not being able to be successful anywhere. It is a hard path (took me ten years of STUPIDNESS to even wake up! Wth!), but I think it is best to walk it, because even though the beginning innertia is extremely high, the top speed far surpasses what you will ever need (hey, I'm already about at what I need, the rest is just whatever). If you think you can get past that innertia then dropping out is a totally fine choice.
A good example of a dropping out done right is richkid actually...
I am certain that Richkid will not fail at making his life of entrepeneurial endevours, he is backed by a support group here and already has the willpower he needs (so will easily go past what he needs imo). However, sometimes it is a bad idea to drop out, such as when you are a stoner, with no support group, who plays video games, and has no intention of getting out there and doing it. Never follow the advice "drop out to follow your passion"... I did that, and it led to ten years of "wtf is this?!", I survived though (this bullshit about there being no good jobs is kinda dumb, I had some really nice jobs working in different places over the years, its not like you are forced to clean toilets without gloves on because you drop out).
To me, I wanna ask, is this really a question about college? Or is it a question of "what is the laziest thing I can do to garuntee success?", because there is no garuntee, and if you've got the will to succeed, it really doesn't matter which path you take, so long as you are aware of the DEBT you are getting into by going through college.
I think of it this way. Can you forsee a good return on investment by going to college? Can you see a good return on investment on a business you can get started on now?
If both of these choices are bad to you, you need to find something ELSE, because your options are both not up to the standards you need to succeed.
College or not... Learn to act on the business principles that make you a success. Its just the smart thing to do.
