Palantir Technologies, the data-analytics company founded by Peter Thiel, has launched an unconventional fellowship program that offers high school graduates a chance to skip college and work directly for the company.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Palantir has introduced the Meritocracy Fellowship, a program designed to recruit high school graduates and offer them an alternative to pursuing a college degree. The fellowship, which has garnered attention for its unconventional approach, is based on CEO Alex Karp’s belief that American universities are no longer reliable or necessary for training skilled workers.
The inaugural class of the Meritocracy Fellowship consists of 22 fellows, selected from a pool of over 500 applicants. These young individuals, some of whom applied due to a lack of interest in college or rejection from their target schools, are participating in a four-month program that aims to provide them with valuable work experience and a potential full-time position at Palantir.
The fellowship began with a four-week seminar focused on four main themes: the foundations of the West, U.S. history and its unique culture, movements within America, and case studies of notable leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Through these sessions, Palantir sought to provide the fellows with a comprehensive understanding of the Western world and its challenges, ultimately aiming to instill a sense of the West’s worth and the importance of defending it.
Following the seminar, the fellows were embedded in various teams within Palantir, often traveling across the country with “forward-deployed engineers,” a job title coined by the company that has since spread to other startups. These engineers operate similarly to consultants, working closely with clients in complex industries such as healthcare, insurance, defense, and government.
The first week of working with the teams proved to be a trial by fire for the fellows, as they were immediately assigned to live projects for Palantir’s customers. However, by the third or fourth week, company executives reported having a clear sense of which fellows were thriving in the company environment and which were struggling.
As the fellowship draws to a close, Palantir has yet to decide which of the 22 fellows will be offered full-time positions. Some participants have expressed a desire to stay with the company, even if it means going against their parents’ wishes. Others may choose to reapply for college, although Palantir employees who helped manage the program believe that regardless of their decision, the fellows will have gained valuable experience and a new perspective on their future careers.
Programs like Palantir’s Meritocracy Fellowship may become more common as college degrees seem to lose their luster. Breitbart News previously reported that Charlie Kirk called woke colleges a “scam:”
The Turning Point USA founder went on to say that he feels “everyone knew that there was something wrong with college, but people were either afraid or unable to make the argument that is necessary,” which is, in part, why he has written this book.
College “is an institutionalized multi-trillion dollar scam,” Kirk said. “I felt necessary to put the pieces together, say it very bluntly and provocatively, but factually.”
“A piece of paper should not define you,” Kirk continued. “You should be a lifelong learner. You should be studying all the time. It’s about your character, it’s about your integrity, it’s about your work ethic — not whether you have some piece of paper from some overpriced institution.”
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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