Drop out and innovate (Times, UK)

Recommended reading: An interesting article that confirms age-old truths about being creative -- focus, and let go (or in this case, "drop out").

Thiel says the huge cost of higher education, and the resulting burden of debt, makes students less willing to take risks. "And we think you're going to have to take a lot of risks to build the next generation of companies."

and

But his plan also clearly challenges the ability of conventional universities to foster innovation. "I do think there are a lot of things people learn in school," Thiel says wryly. "I don't think they learn anything much about entrepreneurship."

additional:

An ardent libertarian, Thiel also underwrites a movement called Seasteading, which seeks to create floating communes free of any nation's legal jurisdiction, and has invested in space-exploration and life-extension technologies. He says innovation has been too slow, and he has been seeking ways "to break the sort of relative stasis we've been in as a society".