How entrepreneur runs school.

Elon Musk created his own school for his kids because he didn’t like the school they were in. Here’s what he did with it:

Musk pulled his kids out of their school and even hired one of their teachers away to start Ad Astra. "I didn't see the regular schools doing the things I thought should be done," he says.

Musk sees a fundamental flaw in how schools teach problem solving.

"It's important to teach problem solving, or teach to the problem and not the tools," Musk says. "Let's say you're trying to teach people about how engines work. A more traditional approach would be saying, 'we're going to teach all about screwdrivers and wrenches.' This is a very difficult way to do it."

Instead, Musk says it makes more sense to give students an engine and then work to disassemble it.

"How are we going to take it apart? You need a screwdriver. That's what the screwdriver is for," Musk explains. "And then a very important thing happens: The relevance of the tools becomes apparent."

So far, Ad Astra "seems to be going pretty well," according to Musk. "The kids really love going to school."

"I hated going to school when I was a kid," Musk told his interviewer. "It was torture."

So there you have it, Musk made it an education based more on problem solving and understanding as opposed to trivial memorization. He understands the importance of maintaining purpose, without it, the material being “learned” will be useless.

Most entrepreneurs understand this, as they are experts at applying knowledge, not just learning it for learning’s sake.