Hannibal Hanschke-Pool/Getty Images
- Elon Musk said his kids were “mostly educated by YouTube and Reddit” during an interview on Clubhouse.
- He also said he thinks education should be as engaging for kids as video games.
- Musk’s five older sons attend a school he created that mainly focuses on AI, coding, and applied science.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Elon Musk says most of his kids’ education is coming from the internet.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO – who is a father of six, five of whom are school-aged – was asked about education during a live interview on the buzzy audio app Clubhouse on Sunday night.
One of the interviewers asked Musk what he thinks would be the best way to educate a 5-year-old in today’s world, and how he would think about that child’s education over the next 5 to 10 years.
After a pause, Musk said that he believes the internet has been formative for his kids’ education.
“Well, my observation is that my kids were mostly educated by YouTube and Reddit,” Musk said. “I guess there were lessons as well, but judging by the amount of time they spent online, it seemed like most of their education is actually coming from online.”
Musk added that he thinks education should be "as interesting and exciting as possible" and that thinking about it in terms of video games could help keep kids more engaged.
"If kids can be super engaged in video games, there's a way for them to be super engaged in education as well," Musk said.
Musk said that his kids have also learned from their classmates, presumably the other attendees of Musk's school, Ad Astra. The school, which he cofounded in 2014, educates his children, as well as those of SpaceX employees. Ad Astra has no grades and an "intense staff to student radio," according to documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service that Ars Technica reported on. The school had about 40 students as of 2018.
Ad Astra's curriculum is heavy on artificial intelligence, coding, and applied science courses. Sports and music are not included in the curriculum, and foreign languages are absent due to Musk's belief that real-time translation software will soon make teaching the subject irrelevant.
Ad Astra was previously housed inside the estate that formerly belonged to actor Gene Wilder, a $7 million home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. Musk sold the house last October, and it's unclear where the school has relocated.
Musk's older children, a set of 17-year-old twins, are likely wrapping up their Ad Astra education. He also has 15-year-old triplets, as well as a 9-month-old baby with the musician Grimes.
Musk is famously skeptical of traditional education. During an interview last March, Musk described college as a bunch of "annoying homework assignments" and said one of the main values of attending college is students spending time with people their own age before joining the workforce.
"I think colleges are basically for fun and to prove you can do your chores, but they're not for learning," he said.
Musk has said that he's against requiring prospective employees to have college degrees. He said in March that Tesla's recruiting material doesn't have anything that says the company requires a college degree, calling the prerequisite "absurd."