2.23.15: Thiel Fellowship, Importance of Touch & College Kids Can't Take A Joke

To protect children from predators, some schools have rules against physical contact so strict that students can be sent to the principal’s office for holding hands or high-fiving. On today’s show – are schools being too touchy about physical contact?

And a reporter profiles the inaugural class of Thiel fellows – twenty teenagers who were given one-hundred thousand dollars to drop out of higher education and pursue success as young entrepreneurs.

Plus a columnist and comedian argues college kids today can’t take a joke. 

Listen to the full show and click Read more for individual segments.

What Ever Happened to The Thiel Fellowship?

• Beth McMurtrie is the Senior Writer at the Chronicle of Higher Education where you can read her article “The Rich Man’s Dropout Club: Whatever Happened To The Teenage Entrepreneurs Whom Peter Thiel Paid To Forgo College?”

Quincy Dean's Radio Diary

• Back in 2008, a young woman who had never been to public school was weighing the pros and cons not of dropping out of school, but whether or not she should drop in. Producer Jamie Yuenger brings us the story.
• You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.

The Power of Touch

• Jessica Lahey is an English teacher and contributing writer for The Atlantic, who joined us to talk about the power of touch, and what would be lost were it to be forbidden in schools. You can read her article "Should Teachers be Allowed to Touch Students?" here.

College Kids Can't Take a Joke

• Clarence Page, a Pulitzer Prize winning syndicated columnist, joined us to talk about how college kids can’t take a joke, and why comedians often don’t want to perform on college campuses. You can read his article, titled “College Kids Can’t Take A Joke” at this link.

The Story Behind the Periodic Table

• Roman Mars and the podcast 99% Invisible take us behind the scenes of one of the most complex yet concise designs hanging in science classrooms around the world: the periodic table of the elements. Here's a link to the Internet Database of Periodic Tables.
• You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.