I'm under 20, and given the opportunity (had I known about the Thiel Fellowship before the application date, for instance), I likely would have applied. $100k to drop out of school and create the Next Big Thing? Hell yeah.

But there's more to it than that. 20 Under 20, it seems, is meant to address a fundamental flaw apparent in higher education, extricating from the "system" bright young minds before they've become too institutionalized. I can't help but wonder, though, if that's the best way to go about it.

My opinion is hardly as strong as Weisburg's, but if your goal is to address a problem within a system, I'm not confident that the best method is to tear it down and start from scratch. Thiel, however, seems to be doing this by proposing that students should address this issue by simply not attending.

Personally, I'm working on a project while going to school. Over the summer, I very well may decide not to come back. But I'm simply acting for my own benefit. I'm not trying to change a system.

Then again, maybe the whole thing just needs to be torn down.