What part of being a child prodigy or going through "hell week" summer schools makes you entrepeneurial? What they're going through grooms them for careers in academia, which has relatively little to do with building products and companies.
> Tyle says he feels a much closer connection with his fellow young scientists than with his high school classmates.
This is setting him up to be out of touch with what people like, what they want, and how they respond to new ideas. How is that helpful?
The working your ass off part. I can speak from my own RSI hell week experience, as well as that of the two RSIs at which I was on staff. Hell week is intense. That sort of intensity isn't sustainable, but is necessary in bursts both for research and startups.
While the research is necessarily academic, the passion and focus can translate to any other field. And I know for me, a Midwestern boy at the tender age of 16, coming to MIT and meeting 70+ students from around the world who all were smart and intense was both eye opening and inspiring. Tyle's comment makes perfect sense to me, and he doesn't mean it in a demeaning or superior way. It's just that for many students, including myself, RSI was the first time we met people our own age who clicked with his on an intellectual level. And for nerds like me, that's a closer sort of connection.
You're correct that there isn't a direct causation here, but the spirit can translate easily into entrepreneurship. For example, RSI alums Ben Rahn and Matt DeBergalis started ActBlue back in 2004, and they've seen incredible success with it since.
I don't think when people say "science education" they're referring to "some of the best and brightest U.S. high school students" taking summer classes at MIT; they're talking about regular high schoolers taking regular classes at regular schools.
This program is cool, but it doesn't do much to say "Look at the US, it's good at science education after all"
So why not award them graduate school degrees?
There's a world of difference between doing good science when you're being doted-upon by a professor and post-doc, versus doing it on your own as a graduate student. These kids are smart and motivated, but they're still living a privileged life.
