The GSV Big 10: Poor Joseph's Almanack
EQ vs IQ, China Hustle, and Fantasy Island...
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The Big 10:
🚨 ICYMI: New Episode of Ed on the Edge ⬇️
In a world of narrow knowledge and skills, here is an example of a modern-day Ben Franklin. Joe was a chess champion, an early PayPal employee, a founder of Palantir (among over a dozen other businesses), a superstar venture capitalist, founder of a University and a think tank…all before turning 40. An early member of the Texodus movement, Joe’s move from his home state of California to Austin raised eyebrows but was yet another example of him being ahead of a trend. This clip from the interview has 160k views on his friend Elon’s X.
In With Teacher Apprenticeships, Out With Colleges of Education | The Daily Signal
Whether it’s apprenticeship or colleges of education, there is a gigantic shortage of teachers not just in the United States, but around the globe. Entrepreneurs solve problems, and we are starting to see innovative solutions to combat the crisis. Maybe the Coach Walz effect will inspire young people to join the profession…as there is no more important job in our view.
Study arts and humanities because you love them (and so do employers, by the way) | The Guardian
STEM is of course important, but many employers are saying it’s not enough. Being able to code, which was your ticket to riches for the past 20 years, has been commoditized by natural market forces. The Seven Cs (critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, communication, cultural fluency, character, and civics) is the knowledge base of the future along with Learning how to Learn. While EQ does not replace IQ, it’s gaining weight in the eyes of employers.
Child care is a ‘textbook example of a broken market.’ Where do Harris, Trump go from here? | Los Angeles Times
We are a bit of a broken record, but you can’t solve the K-12 issue until you solve the 0-5 issue. We also know through Nobel laureate economist James Heckman’s work that $1 invested in early childcare results in over $7 of return on that investment…this is not a question of if we should do it, but how we should do it. Extending the K-12 model to Pre-K is unlikely to produce better results than the miserable overall experience of the past decades, so we urgently need a new approach.
The fastest-growing college expense may not be what people think | The Hechinger Report
Tuition and book prices have been on a 40-year tear, outpacing inflation by roughly 3x. A variety of factors have caused pressure and pause to that trajectory, but students still need to eat and sleep. “Palo Alto College” might seem OK on the list price, but when you factor in $2,000 per month for a shoebox apartment, the costs become prohibitive for most Earthlings.
AI Could Actually Help Rebuild The Middle Class | Noema
Conventional wisdom says that AI is going to render most people obsolete. Our view is radically different. We see the Time Dividend created by AI through Multiplication by Division, allowing Learning at the Speed of Light. We believe this will arm the workers of tomorrow like never before. Moreover, AI will potentially eat the elites by democratizing access to critical knowledge.
In Science and Sports, America’s Colleges and Universities at Risk | The Daily Courier
Universities…arguably the least changed institution over the past millennium is now going through transitions at warp speed. The concept of the student-athlete, which has enriched students, athletes, and institutions, has been turned upside down through the transfer portal and NIL. College athletics are becoming more like pro sports and a university’s team is evolving to look more like a sponsorship type of model…think Emirates Airlines and Manchester United. At the same time, the best and brightest international students who historically flocked to the United States to plug into top research universities are being turned off by the perceived, and probably fairly actual chaos going on.
China Gen-Zs Are Choosing Blue-Collar Jobs Over White-Collar Work. Why? | CNA Insider
The US isn’t alone with young people asking the question of “College for all? Or college at all?” Increasingly, youth in education-obsessed China is choosing blue-collar work over white-collar work…in 2012, Chinese white-collar workers made 2.4x blue-collar workers, and in 2023, 1.4x. As for motive, Gen Z cites upward mobility and fulfillment, purpose, and meaning in their work (which many did not find while working behind a desk). Remember, this is a country whose college enrollment soared from just 2% of its citizens 50 years ago to 60% in 2023.
Should the Wealthy Benefit from Private-School Choice Programs? | Education Next
Point, conterpoint. One argument says that having a diverse mix of students enhances the learning experience for all, and the other says that rich kids already have choices (private schools), and giving them freebies takes important resources from those who need it most. My view, for what it’s worth, says all kids should have equal options to attend great schools.
Former a16z VC Balaji Srinivasan obtained a private island for his new longevity ‘technocapitalist’ school | TechCrunch
It reads like an episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley, which captured the big-thinking, often outlandish ideas that fueled the world-shifting engine of Silicon Valley.
While I’m not sure that this is my cup of tea, hats off to Balaji for continuing to push the boundaries on advancing the frontiers of humanity.
BONUS: Oppenheimer’s EdTech Sector Update – Q2 2024
This Week’s People Moves
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Alexandria Diskin: Handshake ➡️ Parentaly, Enterprise Account Manager
Elisa Nguyen: Handshake ➡️ Acorns, Partner Campus Ambassador
Tanvi Bhaskar: Disney Streaming ➡️ Duolingo, Senior Product Manager
Juhi Srivastava: Amazon ➡️ Coursera, Director, Data Science