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Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said that college is unnecessary since “you can learn anything you want for free”. The purpose of college, Musk said, was to introduce discipline in someone by getting them to complete “annoying homework assignments”, and spending time with people of the same age group before joining the workforce.

Colleges are for “fun and to prove you can do your chores, but they are not for learning,” he said.

Musk said that he will make sure that Tesla, while recruiting for jobs, does not require college degrees “because that’s absurd”. He said what is important in a candidate is “exceptional ability” and that he does not consider going to college evidence of this. He also provided example of tech moguls who dropped out of college, like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison.

Musk, who is estimated to be worth $34 billion, however, has two bachelor’s degrees, although he did drop out of his PhD programme after two days.