Willing to "Drop Out" for Silicon Valley Dream

Silicon Valley is a dream place for the technology industry entrepreneurs. The number of success stories of Silicon Valley make the parents want their children to be as good as co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel. Seeing the enthusiasm of the parents, Thiel challenges students to drop out of college and entrepreneurship training conducted by Thiel.

On Wednesday (19.10.2011), Thiel Foundation, founded by Peter Thiel announced the first batch of scholarships to 24 people aged under 20 years. If selected, students had to resign from their school will receive a grant for $ 100,000 and received training from the foundation to set up technology companies.

Carrying 400 people signed up and expressed their willing to retreat from the campus. Thiel has selected 24 of them to get the opportunity he offers. Three of the 24 students are selected, of whom, Laura Deming (17) which is developing anti-aging therapy, Faheem Zaman (18) who built the mobile payment system for developing countries, and John Burnham (18) who conducted the research utilization of mineral asteroids and comets.

Thiel said he is looking for students who can develop the technology for the livelihood of the people, not merely talk about social media. "There is a need for more urgent to do innovation, such as biomedical technology, nanotechnology, transportation, and energy," Thiel said as quoted by The New York Times.

Thiel did not explicitly say that formal education is not important, so he advised the recipients to withdraw from the campus. He just wants his students will focus more on developing technology companies that wish they had founded. After getting guidance for two years at Thiel Foundation, the students can come back to continue her studies in college.

In Silicon Valley, following in the footsteps of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Evan Williams, who chose not to attend school, may be the right choice for them. However, for those who want to have another profession outside of entrepreneurial activity, some professions require advanced degrees. In the world of work today, the title of one's education is still important.

"I think, a lot of college graduates who did not get a decent job so I wanted to do something to rectify this situation. Before graduating, they must have a stock to be entrepreneurs," said Thiel.

Thiel's father also had doubts when Thiel decided to quit college, before finally agreeing that steps are believed to be his son. "I then believe, my son could do something that could change the world within four years, instead he just sat in college," said the father Thiel.