Below is the full transcript for Joshua Dahn + Future Of Education
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Below is the full transcript for 2015 Elon Musk on Ad Astra in California USA
Interviewer:
So how would you educate your five boys?
Musk:
Actually, I created a little school. Yeah.
Interviewer:
What kind of school? Could you describe to us?
Musk:
Sure. I mean, it’s small. It’s only got 14 now, and it’ll have 20 in September [2015]. It’s called Ad Astra, which means “to the stars”. What’s maybe a bit different from most other schools is that there aren’t any grades. There’s no, like, not grade 1, grade 2, grade 3 type of thing, and making all the children go in the same grade at the same time like an assembly line.
Interviewer:
I know.
Musk:
You know, because some people love English, or languages. Some people love math. Some people love music. And different abilities, different times. It makes more sense to cater the education to match their aptitudes and abilities. Like, that’s one principle. Another is that it’s important to teach problem solving, or teach to the problem, not to the tools.
So this would be like, let’s say, you’re trying to teach people about how engines work, or, you know, you could start by – a more traditional approach would be to say, “We’re going to teach you all about screwdrivers and wrenches,” and you’re going to have a course on screwdrivers, a course on wrenches and all these things. And it’s – this is a very difficult way to do it.
A much better way would be, “Here’s the engine. Now let’s take it apart. How are we going to take it apart? Ah, you need a screwdriver. That’s what the screwdriver is for. You need a wrench. That’s what the wrench is for.” And then a very important thing happens, which is that the relevance of the tools becomes apparent.
Interviewer:
So all your five boys are in that school?
Musk:
Yes.
Interviewer:
Until when? This is from preschool –
Musk:
So far it’s only one-year old.
Interviewer:
Ah.
Musk:
They like it.
Interviewer:
And you want to keep them away from regular schools?
Musk:
No, I just didn’t see that the regular schools just didn’t – they weren’t doing the things that I thought should be done. Like, you know those two principles – they weren’t adhering to those principles. So I thought, well, let’s see what we can do. Maybe creating a school will be better, and I actually hired a teacher from the school they were at, who also agreed with me that there is a better way to do it.
Interviewer:
Have they surprised you in a way of their innovative thinking?
Musk:
Yeah, it seems to be going pretty well. I mean, the kids really love going to school. I think that’s a good sign, you know. I mean, I hated going to school when I was a kid. It was torture. So the fact that they – like, they actually think vacations are too long. They want to go back to school.
Interviewer:
Wow.
Musk:
Yeah, exactly.
Interviewer:
Weird.
Musk:
I know!