Future of education

I think perhaps the greatest leverage a society can have is how they educate the next generation. It’s like training a new SoTA LLM, except this is actually proven to work at scale.

This is why Andrew and I started Yeon (연; means “connection”) in 2021, as part of the UT startup accelerator program. It started as a general mentor-mentee matching service (we named it “Pacemaker” at first), then Andrew pivoted to an in-person academy as I left for my new job in California. It’s still going strong.

I do wonder, however, what the next step might be. In the short term, Yeon will still focus on supporting school-related work, SAT prep, and college admissions, but I strongly believe eventually an end goal will look something like a microschool.

There are already a few in Austin itself, many more throughout the nation and overseas. Famously, Elon Musk started one for his kids in Starbase, called Ad Astra (now known as Astra Nova). I think we still need more iterations, but it’s in the right direction.

The public education system will never adapt, or will be terribly slow, due to bureaucratic or political speed bumps. With the progress of AI, I think we can create an environment for educators to have a profound impact on select students. Teachers in the public education system juggle lots of responsibilities, often not remotely related to teaching. I’d really like to see this improve, I really do. But it’s always better to act than wait for somebody else to do it.

Teachers can focus on teaching without being overloaded, and students can select their own passion to pursue at an early age. Doesn’t that sound better than what we have now? No more going to university just because everyone else is. Sure, it will still be a path for many, but it won’t be the default.

Embrace the change; it’s a wonderful thing.

The ultimate goal: to raise net producers, not net consumers.