The novel coronavirus has shattered education in the United States, leaving millions of parents struggling to cope with childcare and remote classes. Naturally, tech billionaires have taken it upon themselves to fill the void.
But while Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg promised $ 6 million for educational projects, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gave $ 10 million to provide devices and connectivity to students in California, Elon Musk is helping to launch an online school aimed at relatively rich.
The online Astra Nova school, which will open its virtual doors in September, would succeed an ultra-exclusive school that operated from Musk’s SpaceX rocket factory until recently and had many of the same staff. It is a model that experts at the intersection of education and inequality said was not exactly in line with the most pressing needs of this pandemic moment.
Starting in 2016, Ad Astra raised a small group of children, including the children of Elon Musk and those of some SpaceX employees, for free. Building on Musk’s interests, the ground-breaking curriculum had no language, music, or sports lessons, but students would work on complex projects, such as building battle robots, discussing nuclear policy, and planning how to defeat evil AIs.
The last time Ad Astra left space for gifted students outside of Musk’s circle, more than 400 families applied. In the case of Astro Nova, “kind, motivated and academically serious” children anywhere in the world (ages 8-14) can search for a place in the experimental school online, according to its public website.
The capture? One day a week of online lessons will cost parents a hefty amount of $ 7,500.
The Daily Beast used business documents to identify the new school, which was incorporated by the head of Musk’s family office, Jared Birchall. Birchall has managed many of Musk’s newest businesses, including The Boring Company, which is building transportation tunnels in Las Vegas, and Neuralink, a new brain interface company. Birchall could not be reached for comment, and requests for comment from companies led by Musk, SpaceX and Tesla were not answered.
Astra Nova director Joshua Dahn told The Daily Beast that Musk is not involved in running the new company, but confirmed his primary role. “Elon helped with an initial donation and some basic administrative assistance to get Astra Nova started,” he wrote. “But Elon has no financial interest in school and has no children at school.”
In any case, Musk’s interests are still highly visible in the Astra Nova curriculum. Children up to 8 years old can study bioethics or 3D printing in the morning, followed by rocketry, law or virtual reality in the afternoon. A key course involves collaborative problem solving using games and in-depth simulations.
But education experts said Musk, an internet troll who recently gained a new wave of notoriety for pushing ahead with the reopening of a Tesla plant in California, effectively forcing the local government to yield to his will despite credible ones. Fears of COVID infection, he has missed an opportunity to help historically disadvantaged communities. (His own behavior raises the question of why parents want him or his ideas to be involved in their children’s lives in the first place.)
“It is just another example that the wealthy can offer their children things that the poorest communities don’t have access to,” said Julian Vasquez Heilig, dean of the University of Kentucky School of Education. “The Oakland School District is desperate for this type of investment for students of color, but is instead providing access primarily to people who can afford it.”
“What the COVID environment has taught us is that not everyone has the same access to education,” added Nancy Hertzog, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington and an expert on gifted education. “Each school district is doing its best, but my colleagues across the country say hardware, computers, and connectivity can be a problem.”
The admission process at the new school seems to involve students watching a short video that describes industrial pollution and deciding who is to blame. There is no right or wrong answer, according to the Astra Nova website, which wants to know how children think through ethical dilemmas.
The school is also planning full-time enrollment beginning in September 2021. To earn a place there, children must write essays about their passions and complete one of the five challenges. These include designing and filling a virtual art gallery, choosing the best astronauts for the first mission to Mars, or mastering a difficult strategy game designed by Astra Nova.
Ad Astra’s original school was a completely free non-profit 501c (3) for students, with Musk personally picking up the entire tab. In contrast, Astra Nova has been incorporated as a traditional for-profit business, according to a filing with the California Secretary of State’s office. Dahn said that Astra Nova will be funded primarily by student tuition, but that it will not aim to make a profit and that fees will vary based on wealth and income.
Even if they can afford it, school could be a challenge for Many children, according to Hertzog. “You would have to have highly motivated students who can handle hours of work online and then do a lot of other work on their own later offline,” he told The Daily Beast. “It sounds almost like a university environment.”
“I am not sorry that Elon Musk is doing this kind of work,” added Vasquez Heilig. “I just wish he would have chosen to partner with Oakland or Alum Rock, a school district that serves low-income students in Silicon Valley. There are many equity concerns in the STEM field and he [had] a real opportunity to make what I was doing a public good, rather than a private good that only certain people can access. “
If the school’s initial sales pitch is an indication, it seems unlikely to happen soon.
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