What’s the “Paper Belt” and Why Set It on Fire? Tech entrepreneur to talented youth: Skip college.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | February 24, 2023 | George Leef

[karpov]

Sometimes you come across a book with such an intriguing title that you just have to dive into it. That was the case when I saw a reference to Paper Belt on Fire by Michael Gibson. The book’s subtitle sealed the deal: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University. Too iconoclastic to pass up!

The author, I learned, is a college graduate (New York University) who had embarked on a Ph.D. in philosophy at Oxford when he decided that the academic life wasn’t really what he wanted. Why? Because, he came to understand, it wouldn’t allow him free rein for deep and original thinking.

So he bailed out on the doctorate and, after doing nothing at all for a while, found himself working for Silicon Valley legend Peter Thiel. He was hired as an investment analyst but was soon on the Thiel Fellowship team, evaluating young people for the $100,000 grants that Thiel was making available to innovation-minded Americans who would get the money in lieu of enrolling in college.

That assignment was ideal for Gibson, who had already concluded that college degrees had become a new form of the indulgences the Church used to sell to the faithful who wanted salvation. Just like the Church, today’s universities are flush with money, looking obsessively to amass even more. They sell prestige degrees at a high price, but most of the graduates have forgotten everything they have learned by the time they get into the workforce, usually doing jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied.

[ganeemead]

I never had the PHD sickness. I saw that **** ruining lives when I was in my early 20s, people 35 years old who had never done anything other than go to school....

[No name given]

That’s why I’d recommend trade school after homeschooling your children first.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...most of the graduates have forgotten everything they have learned by the time they get into the workforce, usually doing jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied."

I was graduating with a Mechanical Engineering degree in spring 1973 and our Fluids professor (who I dearly loved) told us "You won't use much of what you learned the past four years in your careers. But what you WILL use is the methods you learned to tackle any problem and solve it." He was absolutely right.

This lesson has to be learned over and over through the generations.

Of course, most degree programs don't teach that anymore.

[TalBlack]

“…namely the loss of momentum for research and innovation, which has “flatlined” since 1971. “

Hey, you’ve come a long way baby!

[ASOC]

“That assignment was ideal for Gibson, who had already concluded that college degrees had become a new form of the indulgences the Church used to sell to the faithful who wanted salvation.”

My goodness, such a **perfect way** to put it.

That and buying into the Good Old Boy Network of the Ivy League.

[sarge83]

My oldest son went one semester to a four yr. university and hated it and quit. He took some specific classes in a field he wanted to go into at a community college and did fine. He’s a police officer and loves it.

My daughter wanted to be a nurse and went to college and loves working ER.

My youngest son went a full year on a baseball scholarship and hated college. He said why waste money when I don’t know what I want to do and he quit and went to work as a trained butcher in a Food City grocery store and is assistant manager and enjoys it and makes good money.

[Mean Daddy]

I went to about 3-4 colleges before I went and got an Associates degree. Company I worked for hired a new CIO who said I couldn’t do my job without a degree or certification in spite of running circles around those that did so I went back and got a four year degree. Company said I wasn’t promotable unless I had a Master’s so I got that. Thankfully, all my degrees were paid by my company so no costs outside of books.

[GingisK]

It does seem that people have lost sight of what a University is supposed to do. They weren’t intended to be trade school. They used to provide “whole man” education.