[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] Big tech chief executives including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Palantir CEO Alex Karp and prominent venture capitalist Peter Thiel are urging young people to take paths other than college, Axios reported on Aug. 15.

The report said they are challenging the belief that a four-year degree is an essential route for top talent, and are offering their own alternative programmes.

Musk said in 2020 that "college is for fun and proving you can endure things, not for learning." CEOs who share that view say hands-on training builds skills better. They also say it is better to start a company, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Palantir also runs the Meritocracy Fellowship. It wants people to bypass student debt and "rote education" and earn a "Palantir degree." Completing the four-month course can lead to full-time employment. In the first cohort, 22 people were selected from 500 applicants. Thiel, who also co-founded Palantir, has been funding young people who prepare for their own projects or start-ups for two years instead of going to college through the Thiel Fellowship since 2011.

Most young Americans still go to college after graduating from high school. Trust in higher education has slipped somewhat, but the trend has not changed much.

Education experts cite a fundamental limitation of company-led alternative programmes: it is hard for skills and qualifications to be recognised outside the organisation.

David Deming (데이비드 데밍), dean at Harvard University and an economist, pointed out that "companies are only interested in teaching specific tasks in their own way, not in building skills that work outside the company." He also said, "It is very useful for building a career inside that company, but if you leave, nobody recognises that experience," adding, "Everyone knows what a bachelor's degree is, but these programmes are hard to cash in after you quit."

Critics also say competition is intense for company programmes, meaning they attract only students who were already likely to succeed. Jack Mable (잭 메이블), director of research at Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, said, "These students would have done well anyway, whether they went to Harvard, Palantir, or the University of Massachusetts Amherst."