Josh Dahn is the principal of one of the most exclusive schools in the world.
In 2014 he co-founded the LA-based Ad Astra School, with Tesla founder Elon Musk, and the pair set out to completely rethink education, and how children learn, in order to create future leaders.
The school uses synthesis projects to create an ethical framework, for students to think through contemporary conflicts in environmental policy, space exploration, government surveillance and education.
Students had today been discussing how to manage the effects of gentrification.
“Having the kids actually look at, even like a simulation of a neighbourhood and different tenants that are wanting to move in and what price they’re willing to pay, like what the new market price would be, and how as a landlord you would have to think about the preservation of what has made that neighbourhood what it is.
“Whether it’s a jazz club or a really unique meeting place or bakery, what is worth preserving in a neighbourhood and would you do that while accepting less money.”
All the students take regular classes, such as chemistry, maths and English, and the discussion based learning only happens for a couple of hours a week.
“You’re thinking about what you value, and why you value it."
Dahn says traditional learning is often very passive, with many parents estimating that only about 30 percent of their education was thoughtfully spent.
“That’s just a huge missed opportunity.
“So the idea at Ad Astra is to create meaningful problems for kids to solve and to not sell them short, nor to put them in a position where they are waiting around for something to happen.”
Some of the students’ achievements have been quite impressive, he says.
“Because they know that the school is designed for them and that their inputs ultimately will lead to new initiatives from the school.
“So I think that buy-in from the kids, especially at a really young age, allows them to be more creative because they know that it is actually going to be well received by the school.”
Dahn says learning at the school is experimental, based on his teaching in low-income schools for his first four years and then transitioning to a school for highly gifted children and now running Ad Astra.
“If we can start a school that kids love, that seems like a really good starting place.
“If we go in that direction and really priorities problem solving and character building over everything else, I think that we’re on the right path.”
He says it would be nice to widen the impact beyond the 31 students that they currently have but don’t intend to roll out a model worldwide.
“We’re really trying to find what works for the kids that we have and as we have more kids we’ll hopefully find out quite a bit more.”
Dahn says the success of their students, the first of whom will be heading to high school this year, will be measured by the type of people they become and what they contribute to the world.
Josh Dahn is speaking at The New Zealand Educators' Neuroscience Conference in May. He has a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and American Studies from Miami University and a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
