There are some around my neighborhood in San Jose, CA.

Schools were one reason. My high school canceled electronics classes in favor of programming, which was seen as a job for the future. I'm sure money and safety also figured into that decision.

If you are interested in bootstrapping, these are 2 particularly good interview episodes of Techzing: http://techzinglive.com/page/1169/206-tz-interview-corey-mas... , http://techzinglive.com/page/1080/190-tz-interview-ted-pitts... .

In Build and Analyze #50 ( http://5by5.tv/buildanalyze/50 ), starting at around 22:30, Marco describes why he made these decisions.