Elon Musk Explains Why We Shouldn't Confuse Traditional Schooling With Education

Inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk is no fan of the traditional schooling model. Musk is the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, chairman of SolarCity, as well as the founder of SpaceX and a co-founder of PayPal.

In one 2014 interview Musk had said that “I think a lot of things that people learn probably there’s no point in learning them because they never use them in the future because kids that are just in school kinda puzzled as to why they’re there.”

He has revealed in the past that his experience in public school was terrible, riddled with both bullying and lessons which were neither valuable nor exciting.

Musk doesn’t even care if his employees have college degrees. He told Auto Bild in 2014 that an applicant’s formal education is not a priority for him.

“There’s no need even to have a college degree, or even high school really. If someone graduates from a good university that may be an indication that they are capable of great things, but that is not necessarily the case,” Musk said.

Musk has gotten into a few interesting Twitter exchanges on this topic also. Last year, Musk responded to a Tweet that said “You can’t succeed in life without a degree. That’s why you need schooling if you want to go to Harvard.”

“That’s not true. Don’t confuse schooling with education. I didn’t go to Harvard, but the people that work for me did,” Musk said in response.

Musk is practicing what he preaches for his children as well. In a 2015 interview, Musk revealed that he made a school for his children so they could pursue their paths in learning.

In the interview, Musk said:

“I didn’t see the regular schools doing the things I thought should be done…Some people love English or languages. Some people love math. Some people love music. Different abilities, different times. It makes more sense to cater the education to match their aptitudes and abilities.”

Musk went on to explain why hands-on experience is more important than making students memorize and regurgitate answers to questions. He pointed out:

“It’s important to teach problem-solving or teach to the problem and not the tools. 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 complicated way to do it.”

Musk then explained that it's better to let them take apart an engine, in real life, and then figure it out for themselves.

“How are we going to take it apart? You need a screwdriver. That’s what the screwdriver is for. And then a very important thing happens: The relevance of the tools becomes apparent,” he added.

If one among the most brilliant inventors and entrepreneurs in the world doesn’t trust his children’s brains in the hands of the government, maybe you should reconsider your choices if you currently have children in public school.

Image credit: Wikimedia