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A whole lot of hubbub has been generated by infamous billionaire Peter Thiel and his repeated, dull attacks on higher education across the United States. Despite the fact that I keep seeing more and more about Thiel in the media, usually when it comes to his ceaseless critiques of American universities, I think too few people are acknowledging one simple fact â Peter Thiel and his long-disproven assault on higher ed isnât just hopelessly wrong, itâs also incredibly boring.

Hereâs why I think Peter Thielâs long played-out criticisms of higher education are totally nonsensical, and so boring that they arenât worthy of our attention in the future.

Thielâs claims simply arenât based in reality




Letâs get right to the heart of the issue; no matter how many times I try to turn the page of my newspapers on Peter Thiel, he keeps showing up in headlines asserting that higher education in the United States, and four-year colleges in particular, are an utter waste of time.

Thiel actually goes a step further than this, alleging that not only are colleges giant money-sinks, but that theyâre dangerous propaganda factories that are supposedly brainwashing our youth and the brightest minds in Silicon Valley.

These tired arguments are so dull and boring because weâve all heard them a million times before, and furthermore, theyâve been disproven just as many times. My own college experience didnât turn me into a bleeding-heart liberal, nor did it radicalize me or sway me to act like a cog in a machine.

As a matter of fact, higher education gave me the critical thinking skills I needed to stand apart from the rest of society as an individual and make my own choices. For countless millions, indeed for most college students, this is the standard experience.

The idea that higher education is nothing more than a factory designed to churn out brainwashed far-left liberals is so ludicrous that it barely warrants addressing. Still, I wonât miss an opportunity to point others towards the overwhelming evidence that Peter Thielâs baseless attacks on colleges are hopelessly misdirected on the basis of false evidence.

Thielâs ardent support for President Trump is likely one of the prime motivations for his making this argument so many times, coupled with the fact that heâs been rejected by many of his billionaire peers in Silicon Valley for regularly preaching nonsense.

His attacks are boring, largely because they echo the similarly-dull and fallacy-ridden claims pushed forward by conservatives in the United States that most campuses are nothing more than breeding grounds for Democratic voters; a gross misinterpretation of what actually occurs at most colleges.

At least he put his money where his mouth isâ¦ right?

Some defenders of Peter Thiel that Iâve encountered assert that heâs at the very least put his money where his mouth is. Theyâre referring, of course, to the hilariously named Thiel Fellowship that aimed at convincing youngsters to abandon their dreams of going to college and to invest in making a business plan instead.

To be fair to Thiel, I can concede that itâs admirable he put his own money up to fund this venture, like he did with iLobby visitor management, and that heâs trying to prove that youngsters donât need college to succeed by risking his own reputation. The hilarious downside of this program, of course, is that itâs successes are questionable at best and downright laughable at worst.

Thielâs star-child of the program, Andrew Hsu, for instance, was originally praised when his company drew some serious venture funding from Google. Thiel, we were told, had single-handedly demonstrated that college was obsolete, and that youngsters given opportunities like this will be shaping the future. As a matter of fact, however, the company has since collapsed, and its Thiel-fellow turned CEO is the one to blame.

As it turns out, Thielâs absurd claims that colleges donât prepare you for the real world were totally nonsensical. His own programâs most successful fellow was essentially having his company operated on his behalf by his parents, after all. Still, you wonât see Thiel with his hat in hand today, noting solemnly that, okay, maybe encouraging bright kids all over the world to stop pursuing an education isnât exactly the greatest idea.

To this day, Thiel continues to claim that higher education is a sham, alleging that diplomas are mere âdunce capsâ in hiding. We have to listen to this re-hashed argument over and over again, finding ourselves inundated with lazy claims that since Thiel himself has amassed an immense fortune he surely knows how to help others do the same thing.

Billionaires like Thiel often owe much more of their success to others than to their own brilliance, of course, though weâre not likely to hear that during one of his anti-collegiate rants.

Stick to what youâre good at

If I could offer one bit of advice to Thiel, it would be to stick with what you know. To be blunt, he has absolutely no idea what heâs talking about when it comes to the traditional higher ed experience. He went to an Ivy League school, after all, whereas most students in this country would be appreciative to get into a community college or local school in their home state.

Thielâs daily life is completely different than those belonging to the millions he preaches to, but he still thinks he holds the recipe to success and can teach it to them.

Iâm so tired of dealing with this boring argument. Itâs time for us to agree once and for all that college âÂ  while not perfect nor designed for everyone â is an instrumental part of contemporary society that helps young people achieve their dreams and make the world a better place.

If we let the Peter Thiels of the world dominate this conversation, colleges and those aspiring to get accepted into them will continue to take an unfair beating thatâs not based in fact. Peter Thiel may have made a pretty penny for himself with PayPal, but when it comes to common sense and helping ordinary, non-billionaires succeed, heâs repeatedly demonstrated that heâs totally bankrupt.

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