Not content with meddling in politics, Elon Musk's next venture is an attempt to reimagine the United States' education system. The South African billionaire is now funding a Texas preschool called Ad Astra, which recently received a state permit to educate up to 21 students. The Montessori private school's website states that it is open to students aged three to nine, however an in-depth report from Bloomberg said that there are no signs of children or teachers yet at the facility.
The school is located outside of Bastrop, Texas, which is becoming a hub for Musk-owned businesses. The Boring Co. tunneling business is based close by, as is a production site for SpaceX Starlink satellites. Construction is also happening in the area for a building owned by X, formerly Twitter.
Bloomberg noted that Musk has frequently had educational offerings, sometimes with the same Ad Astra name, attached to his businesses, so this new preschool could be meant for the children of his employees. A job posting for an instructor at Ad Astra reads: "While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide."
Musk was a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, and both have made comments disparaging recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in education.
He's hardly the first tech figurehead to apply his opinions on education onto US schools. Mark Zuckerberg tried to personalize the experience with Summit Learning. Jeff Bezos put his name and resources into a series of preschools. And Bill Gates has a long history of proposing ideas for public education that yielded dubious improvements for students, such as charter schools and the Common Core State Standards.
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