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Jessica Hannan writes at I4U that Elon Musk pulled his children out of an established school after discovering they weren't receiving the quality of education that catered to their abilities and built his own school with only 14 students whose parents are primarily SpaceX employees. Musk wants to eliminate grades so there's no distinction between students in 1st grade and 3rd and students focus on the important elements of each subject. By integrating the thinking process to include a progressive step-by-step approach, children will be challenged and able to understand result through a systemic pattern. "Let's say you're trying to teach people about how engines work. A more traditional approach would be saying, 'we're going to teach all about screwdrivers and wrenches.' This is a very difficult way to do it." Instead, Musk says it makes more sense to give students an engine and then work to disassemble it. "How are we going to take it apart? You need a screwdriver." When you show "what the screwdriver is for," Musk explains "a very important thing happens" because students then witness the relevancy of task, tool, and solution in a long term application."
According to Hannan, Musk's approach to delete grade level numbers and focus on aptitude may take the pressure off non-linear students and creates a more balanced assessment of ingenuity. Admitting books were "comforting" to him as a child and to reading everything from science fiction to the encyclopedia and philosophers from "morning to night," Musk points out that not everyone will be strong in every subject, or be able to retain regurgitated standardized aptitude facts beyond the test. "It makes more sense to cater the education to match their aptitudes and abilities." So far, Ad Astra "seems to be going pretty well," according to Musk. "The kids really love going to school."
[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @10:48AM
This seems more like a good tutoring/mentoring environment, not a school. Is there a reason Musk calls it a school, instead of just saying that he's hiring tutors for his kids (and some of his friends'/employees' kids)?
From memory, students usually do better with a more favorable student:teacher ratio. Musk can afford to make this fractional (more teachers than students), and he can also pick and choose to find good/inspirational/[insert positive trait here] teachers/tutors.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday May 27 2015, @10:57AM
This seems more like a good tutoring/mentoring environment, not a school.
So schools are not supposed to be tutoring/mentoring environments? What does school mean to you then - daycare?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by kaszz on Wednesday May 27 2015, @11:12AM
Shaping future working drones and keeping the offspring of everybody's lawn, even their own parents.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @11:24AM
I pity your bitterness. I'm figuring it is from thinking yourself so brilliant that school was holding you back because they had to cater to the unwashed masses, thus your disdain for "the sheeple" or "Joe Sixpack".
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @03:21PM
Or maybe the GP just went to public school. Public schools (in the US) do seem to be set up this way. IIRC, my high school principal would refer to the school as a plant, as in an industrial plant spitting out it's product, students. A system that does its best to be efficient (for some definition of efficient) by treating 50 million kids as if they are identical, is not a system that is trying to help every student reach their full potential. It's a system that is trying to create 'working drones'. It's also inhumane. My interpretation was that the GP was complaining about the public school system, not the students.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @08:39PM
Or maybe he is just projecting all his perceived faults and failures upon his primary school upbringing. "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, public school."
Besides, the UK system is horrible too. I saw all about it in this biography [imdb.com].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @11:20AM
Rich guy sends his kid to private school. News at 11.
This is fine and all, and it is great for him that he has the resources to do it for his kids, but it isn't the kind of thing that scales to tens of thousands of kids.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:14PM
This is slightly different, as it's "Rich guy sends his kids to private school that he himself owns and that he created for exactly that purpose."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Dunbal on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:29PM
but it isn't the kind of thing that scales to tens of thousands of kids.
They said the same about Tesla and SpaceX. Musk is a pretty cool guy, myself I'll wait and see.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Wednesday May 27 2015, @01:49PM
Careful, it's uncool to like him now. I was an instant fan back in 2005 when reading a torn up Popular Science about his desire to start a space company and retire on Mars. Most people like him now because they bought Tesla stock before it went through the roof. But other than that he is seen as an eccentric rich guy, not the engineer that he is. I don't think everything he does is perfect. But i think he actually attempts to solve problems and not just pump people for money. His riches are deserved.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Wednesday May 27 2015, @05:16PM
Cool or not I don't care. I like him (too). He's made more money than he'll ever need and I think all his latest enterprises (SpaceX, Tesla, SolarCity etc) have more to do with his vision of the future than just making money. Of course he wants them to be profitable, otherwise the ideas die with him. But he's got the guts to put his money on the line, develop his ideas and bring them to market.
(Score: 1) by Placenta on Wednesday May 27 2015, @11:45AM
It sounds like Montessori education [wikipedia.org] to me.