Youth unemployment poll casts doubt on ‘skip college’ advice

Less educated people means more jobs for me ;) Keep speaking the gospel Thiel!

Most young college graduates would not be eligible for unemployment benefits, to my knowledge, and most "official" unemployment rates only include people eligible for such benefits who have been unable to secure ANY type of employment whatsoever. It doesn't include people working temp jobs because they have no other options, people working part-time who would like a full-time position but couldn't take one, long-term unemployed no longer eligible for benefits, people with advanced degrees waiting tables for peanuts just to try to get a little food on the table...you get the idea.

And, as others have already pointed out, this "skip college" advice only applies to people with the drive and talent to be entrepreneurs, anyway. People who plan on working for other people ought to get the degree(s), in large part because doing so is necessary just to get your foot in the door in the first place.

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First of all polls are useless and can and are steered in whatever direction the pollsters (or the group behind the pollsters with the agenda) want. Second, Peter Thiel was talking about entrepreneurs, not high school students in general. He's talking about people who could care less about "week to week", but rather people with huge dreams and a huge work ethic who want something out of life, this young people should NOT WASTE TIME going to college. Those four years in the REAL WORLD, getting real life experience, instead of sitting in a class room being told how to make it in the business world by a professor who never ran a hot dog stand are, far more valuable. Plus you saved a ton of money and while your friends are just graduating, looking for low wage entry jobs in go-no-where careers with $50,000 in school loans to start paying off for the next 10 years, you'll have your own business started and providing a good or service and jobs to America! No one can teach you to run a business, and charging you to try is even more asinine.

If it wasn't for the Non-violent class b misdemeanor i would be enlisted in the Navy.
I scored a 95 the recruiters practice asvab test. They aint taking me because my high school diploma wasn't classed in a tier 1 category, even though it's a more rigorous curriculum than a normal high school. They can't take me unless i get 15 college credit hours so i can get classed tier 1. (they would take me tier 2 without the charge) However I can't apply for any student loans anymore or any finical aid. I can't even get a job if they do any type of background check. I job hunted for a $7.25 for almost 4 months and now... I now mow lawns and despite the drought here, i'm raking in the dough. So i don't think i will even try to get a minimum wage job anymore. However mowing lawns is a waste of my abilities. My IQ scores 4 points below "genius". My "crime": I had two joints. Justice is served? I at least feel like this is cruel and unusual for possession of one the world most useful plants. Useful enough to fuel cars... I get treated like i'm a bank robber whenever someone sees my record with one blemish. I didn't infringe on anyone else's rights.

Today it doesn't matter how smart you really are, all that matters is that you have a piece of paper with Latin on it. I used to use a fake degree I got off the web and it worked, along with a creative and believable back story. I also feel discouraged because of guys like that dude who created Facebook and those guys who own Google. They are billionaires and don't really have to do anything. I figure if I can't be like them then I would rather do nothing. It won't be forever though because eventually i know I am going to commit suicide. I just don't measure up in this world and I don't want to be a part of it anymore so i guess the moral is if you don't have a business idea that can make you rich like Thiel and other internet billionaires then you better get a degree.

All this talk about being too poor for college. Well, you could always join the army. It sickens me to see all these poor and homeless people that are still young enough to join and actually do something with their lives.

I agree with Theil. Public compulsory school is a joke too. I highly recommend the book "Weapons of Mas Instruction" by John Taylor Gatto. He goes into depth about the history of school and its motives including college. Its set up to dumb us down to be good consumers and to look for a job instead of innovate/invent or make our own way.

the french pay like 300 euro a semester for their masters program, by government mandate. the private schools i think a little bit more. we charge thousands to people for a title and a substandard education

Everyone needs to realize that Colleges are a business, first & foremost, they exist to make money...for the most part. There are no guarantees that you will get a job just because you spent five or six figures to get that piece of paper, many degrees are worthless in the real world. I can't even begin to tell you how many clueless grads there are out there that cite their diploma as reason to be hired. College is an artificial environment, and for many it's a big playground. Unless you are going for something highly specialized, e.g. Dr., Nurse, Attorney,or other specialized fields, etc. I think a trade school or similar is more appropriate.

There was a time when all the "knowledge" was contained inside a college, a time when people could depend on working for the same company or sector for 30 years, a time when technology was reserved for the wealthy, and didn't change much...those days are over.

Colleges are definitely the next bubble, faculty making ~ $70-200k, who do you think pays these salaries? Tuition people, tuition. Here we are in a nightmare economy and tuition continues to increase across the board, student loans.....the worst type of loan ever invented....will haunt you until the day you die, they are virtually impossible to get rid of should you become unable to afford them, or if you can't get a job, insane fees, etc.

depends on what kind of job you want. I have a job, didn't finish school because I didn't want any debt, and my friends that are lucky enough to have a job are still struggling to pay the loans. The ones that don't have jobs are just desolate.

The chart above clearly shows that college is a waste, huh? I am not saying that its not over priced and something should be done about that...but it is not a waste. I stuck it out and earned my PhD and just started a year ago in the work force and make more than what the chart above says...I owe alot of money for that reason (but I can pay it), but I truely feel I can offer more than someone with a high school degree, and it shows. One day I will start my own business, but like with all other things, experience is key. How many of these high school kids can go out and start a multi-billion dollar company with just an idea...not many. And this Thiel guy thinks just because he got lucky and it worked for him, that everyone will have his sucess...what a load of crap!!!

Collage degrees are way over rated. I got my BSEE years ago and 2 years after working as an engineer I quit and became a Photographer. That was 20 years ago and I have never looked back. Now I'm becoming a farmer. There is so much information out there that you don't need a formal education any more. All you need is the drive to learn something and be good at it. That is not something they teach you in collage.

Find your passion and get good at it. Save the collage money to invest in your own business.

that is awesome. i ve an idea that can pay for 10 of these Island in 5 years. who is ready to fund it.

college is the biggest joke on the planet. I earned my AS degree and then decided not to go get my BA degree because it is just not worth it. Look at all the thousands and thousands of kids getting their degrees and there are no jobs. I hear so many stories of kids that earned their BA degrees just to get a job land scaping or a job as a cashier at home depot. Nope, I'm not taking those loans out to get a $1o an hour job. Pretty sad.

Thank God I became a pimp 10 years ago.......while my ladies make good money,,I make more.
I only rent out 5 star hookers that will do what ya want for a fee of course. May I suggest never to pay for a handjob,,you can do that yourself . If you want the good stuff my girls will jump into action.
HEY! ,It's all tax free under the table.Why work for the government.eh? :o)~~~
Plus you can ride around in a BMW like I do!

well of course , the real dedicated and smart people never needed a diploma ... university degree are for those who lack dedication and/or intelligence levels to make it with out... it takes a hell of a lot less brain to work for someone else (told what to do) then generating profit for your self... so this advice is not working for the majority.. sadly

Certification helps but it isn' the 'be-all-to-end-all' of life. I've got a wall full oif certificates some of which I haven't used in years (I both like and need a challenge) AND I run my own company. You wouldn't believe the number of applicants that arrive looking for work with great technical skills but who can't spell, can't write, have near elementary-school grammar skills and have the people-skills of a mouldy sea sponge. They expect a great salary all because they have that certificate written in Latin (which they probably couldn't tanslate if their life depended on it!).
Go to school, keep going to school, keep learning and work towards finding something you love doing!! Never settle. As long as we keep thinging that we're ENTITLED to something we'll end up holding the short end of the stick. If I had listened to all the people who told me I would never amount to anything (including my father) I'd still be in a dead-end position, wailing 'why didn't I try harder'. The only one who can make things happen for you is you.

This article compares apples to oranges. Thiel is not saying don't go to college in general, he is saying if you want to start a business, start right away by skipping college and get early hands-on experience before you learn bad habits from an education system that mainly teaches you how to be a worker for someone else and to think in limited ways, things that are not good if you want to be an entrepreneur.