spaceX school

Hey friend, 

I’ve been immersed in alternative education projects online since I was 16 or so. But more recently I have been looking into alternatives for young kids, say ages 8-15.

And i would say 90% of what I have seen has been extremely underwhelming. It mostly just an attempt to make an old shitty system a little bit better.

A lot of the leaders of these programs are not very inspired individuals and really have the same energy as the old system.

However there are some super exciting projects. There’s synthesis, which was started for SpaceX staff’s kids in a rocket factory. There’s some cool entrepenuerial based schools in Austin, TX. And there is also a big growing trend of wealthy, intelligent leaders from the business world creating their own “home-school-pods“ with the kids of similar parents and crafting their own tailored curriculum, hiring their own tutors for specific subjects. Teaching real high value skills that they will use in the real world, and creating a culture of excellence. 

I think the tech world and education will always be inseparable. And they deserve to have a close relationship. And I know a lot of people in tech who have created amazing things, that are super inspired by changing education. But I think there is one danger to be aware of here.

If we were to design a new education, an education that truly served the student to the highest level… it would be a miss to throw out the old system, only to create something similar but more modern. 

The old system was created to breed slaves for the industrial revolution, for the empires of Rockefeller and Carnegie. It was designed by the Prussians to breed obedient soldiers that would not question.

This new system, that many in tech seem to be interested in creating, to me looks more about breeding soldiers (developers, coders, engineers) for the world of tech & venture capital - than the truth of what each child or student has to give to the world. 

It’s obviously an improvement on the current system, which is training them for a world that no longer exists. 

But its still just an update to an old system. Creating soldiers for someone else’s war. Replicating the roots of the Prussian system. 

It’s not really about independence or truth. Or is, as only as far as the system gets what it needs from the student. 

I picture a future of education that places the student at the centre of it all. That their education is nothing less than a great adventure into the depths of what they are. That their education would be a process of stripping back all the shit, all the conditioning, all that is not them and revealing the very core, authenticity. 

That the educators would not work with the students in order to get something from them or force something down their throat- but to draw out of them that which doesn’t exist anywhere else.

I picture a future education that personal sovereignty is the most core pillar. And that each child would discover the gift, their genius, their brilliance, that they are here to give to the world.

I’m not interested in updating a shitty system. I’m inspired to create something completely new.

-Jay

Jay Topp is a 23 year old writer, marketer, film maker & self-led educator originally from Australia, now based between Latin America & Europe. You can see his films here. Instagram here. And his business website here.

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