I am a big fan of Elon Musk's companies and initiatives, so I was interested to see what the man had to say about education. I found an interesting video from this past April that demonstrates his thoughts when it comes to his children's education and the education of at least some of his employees. Namely, Musk has created a school where there are no grade levels and students pursue the subjects in which they are most interested. Mr. Musk explains that his kids love going to school and lament being on vacation away from their learning environment. Perhaps the most poignant analogy that Musk uses is that, by having students pursue the subjects they enjoy and by eschewing grade levels, they avoid the "assembly line" of traditional schooling. I found that Musk's statement connected to my own thoughts on education in one of my earlier blog posts, that schools need to "cater," as Musk puts it, to students rather than forcing the students to follow the schedule of the school. When he talks about education in this way, it acts to my mind as a foil for the assembly line model. It really shows how inequitable our school system can be and how it can stifle students' interests. There is no doubt that having such an open model might not work for all students, but it seems very clear that the current one does not work either. It might work because of how rigid and controlling it is, but do we really want our schools to be places of control rather than places of creativity and expression--where students follow what they like and actually cherish coming to school? Musk, Elon. (2015, April 1). Elon Musk talks about a new type of school he created for his kids. Youtube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/3UxL-0--oQo?t=25m42s
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