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Elon Musk plans to open a university in Austin after donating $100 million to his latest charity, called The Foundation.
The billionaire’s Texas institution will begin with a STEM-focused elementary and secondary school, expanding into a university “dedicated to education at the highest level,” according to tax filings seen by Bloomberg.
The school will employ a traditional curriculum “along with hands-on learning experiences that include simulations, case studies, manufacturing/design projects, and laboratories,” according to the October 2022 application that was approved in March.
Musk’s foray into education comes at a time when he has become a frequent critic of American schooling, telling biographer Walter Isaacson this year that “unless the awakened mind virus is stopped , which is fundamentally anti-scientific, anti-merit and anti-human in general, civilization will never be multiplanetary.’
Elon Musk (pictured with his son X ÿ A-12 in December 2021) will open his own university in Austin, Texas, after years of harsh criticism of American education systems.
According to the tax-exempt application, Musk’s university will attempt to employ an “experienced faculty” and seek accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Musk previously opened a school for five of his eleven children, opening the ultra-exclusive ‘Ad Astra’ school on the SpaceX campus in California in 2015.
The small school, shrouded in secrecy and open only to a select few children of its employees, moved to Austin in 2020 when Musk fled California to the Lone Star State during the pandemic.
Amid growing unrest over the state of education in America, Austin will also be home to another ambitious institution, the University of Austin.
Supporters of UATX, including venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale and entrepreneur Larry Summers, say it aims to address the “vast chasm between the promise and reality of higher education.”
It is unclear whether Musk might choose to take his university down a similar path, however it seems likely, given his previous comments, that elite institutions are indoctrinating students with “total communism.”
For his STEM elementary and middle school, Musk is reportedly expecting an initial intake of 50 students.
The tax filing also noted that the school is looking to hire an executive director, a teacher and an administrator.
In 2015, Musk opened an ultra-exclusive school on the SpaceX campus called ‘Ad Astra’. He is seen at school with several of his children.
Musk is launching the institution through his charity The Foundation, which serves as one of the central pillars of his Musk Foundation philanthropy.
Last year he sent $2.2 billion in Tesla stock to his Musk Foundation and later moved $100 million to start his university.
The billionaire’s charitable giving has also seen him make large donations to non-profit organization World Central Kitchen, Khan Academy and a fund at Fidelity Charitable.
Musk, who is currently the richest man in the world with a net worth of $220 billion, has more plans for Austin than just education.
He is also reportedly creating his own city near the city, with subsidized housing for SpaceX and Tesla employees, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The city is still waiting for some approvals, but it would include recreational facilities, another school and thousands of acres purchased by the businessman in recent years.
Musk has eleven children. He is shown holding his son Griffin, along with his second wife, actress Talulah Riley, and his son Xavier in 2010.
Musk already spoke openly about his own problems in school as a child, telling his biographer Ashlee Vance in 2015 that his childhood in South Africa was hit by serious harassment.
In one incident, his classmates pushed him down a cement staircase, recounting in the biography: “They got my best damn friend to drag me out of hiding so they could beat me up.” And that hurt me.
‘For some reason they decided that I was the culprit and were going to chase me non-stop. That’s what made growing up difficult. For several years there was no respite.
‘You are being chased by gangs at school who tried to defeat the [expletive] out of me, and then I would come home, and it would be horrible there too.
But when it comes to his own children’s experience at school, so far Ad Astra “seems to be going pretty well,” according to Musk. “Children love going to school.”