Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

WeWork Wants to Teach Kindergartners to Disrupt Shit Up

WeWork has an unsettling vision for disrupting education by prepping kids to become the next Zuckerberg before they start learning their times tables. And while it's a hell of a lot better than anything Betsy DeVos could dream up, the company's technocratic, seemingly Shark Tank-inspired take on Montessori makes me fear for my unborn children.

This morning Fast Company and Bloomberg published articles announcing the new program WeGrow, which is the brain child of Rebekah Neumann, chief branding officer and a founding partner of WeWork. She was inspired to create her own educational system after she and her husband, WeWork CEO and fellow founding partner Adam Neumann, were disappointed with the elementary school options in New York and the West Coast for their “natural entrepreneurs.”

“These children come into the world, they are very evolved, they are very special,” Rebekah Neumann told Fast Company, explaining the realizations she had when searching for a school for her evolved and special children. “They’re spiritual. They’re all natural entrepreneurs, natural humanitarians, and then it seems like we squash it all out of them in the education system. Then we ask them to be disruptive and find it again after college.”

As she and her husband have helped grow WeWork from a Brooklyn co-working space into a communal-living real estate behemoth or, as The Wall Street Journals calls it, a “$20 billion startup fueled by Silicon Valley pixie dust”-they have also been “witnessing the movement that started, the ‘we generation,’” according to Neumann. “Now that I’m a mom, I’m noticing there’s been a huge missed opportunity in the educational system, because children are ready to start creating their life’s work when they’re 5,” she added.

So last month Neumann created a pilot program of seven students, ages five through eight, including her eldest child. The program is run out of a New York City Chabad school as well as the 60-acre Linden Farm in Pound Ridge, New York, which the Neumanns purchased last year for $15 million. Students spend one day a week at the farm and the rest of the week in the classroom, where they learn from customers and employees of WeWork. “The curriculum is going to be, and already is, integrated with mindfulness and yoga and meditation and farming and farm-to-table cooking, and all these sorts of things,” Rebekah told Fast Company, explaining that pilot students are currently “learning reading and math and science through working on the farm, through coming to WeWork, and running their own farm stand.”

Of course, the idea for school gardens and farm-to-school programs are far from new in the US. Both movements trace back to the 1890s and get boosts every few years from federal initiatives or renewed national interest in environmental issues. But it’s not just agriculture-based business that these children are learning. Rebekah told Bloomberg that children learn from WeWork employees and customers about brand-building, sales tactics, and basic economics. One eight-year-old girl reportedly made T-shirts then sold them at the student-run farm stand. Now that girl plans to apprentice under a fashion designer who operates their business out of a WeWork space.

WeGrow plans to open its first school in Chelsea next fall, with about 65 students. Eventually, Neumann hopes to start schools at other WeWorks all around the world so that parents who travel for business can take their family with them. This way, parents can always work just steps away from their children, no matter where they are. According to Bloomberg, WeGrow says it wants to educate customers “from birth to death.” If its dream is realized, then WeGrow children can graduate into WeWorks entrepreneurs, live at WeLive communal housing projects, learn how to be healthy from the recently launched Rise by We, and raise even more WeGrow-educated children. And the cycle can continue forever and ever-at least until the AI singularity kills us all or the We Empire implodes and frees customers from its Borg-like grasp.

The original articles about WeGrow include criticism from education experts and advocates, like Samuel Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, who told Bloomberg that “encouraging kids to monetize their ideas, at that age, is damaging” and risks “sucking the joy out of education.”

Gizmodo asked WeWork if it would comment on early criticisms of the WeGrow project, but a spokesperson said they would not “address the other voices.”

Instead, the company shared a draft of blog post from Neumann that will be published later today. “[Children] are in touch with the magical, that thing that is greater than any one of us, and they grow-every single day-physically, intellectually, and spiritually,” she writes. “It is with deep respect for this magic that we have decided to launch WeGrow: a new conscious, entrepreneurial school committed to unleashing every child’s superpowers. Through better understanding of their passions and the ways they can use their gifts to help other, children will grow as self-aware, empowered, compassionate creators.”

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Spain and Morocco Trade Blame After 72,000 Migrants Enter Ceuta
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Europe’s Heat and Drought Are Now Disrupting Power, Shipping and Tourism
Europe’s Drying Rivers Trigger Power Cuts, Factory Shutdowns and Wildfire Emergencies
Record-Low Danube Forces Nuclear Cuts and Emergency Power Curbs
Danube Drought Forces Hungary’s Paks Nuclear Plant Into Full Shutdown
Ceuta Death Toll Rises as Spain and Europe Clash Over Border Response
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
Record-Low Danube Exposes Probable Mammoth Remains in Bulgaria
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
The AI User Nightmare: Private Claude Conversations Leaked to the Internet
Over 24 Hours in the Air: Qantas Airbus Completes Record-Breaking Test Flight
Massive Wildfires Ravage Southern Europe: Fatalities in Greece and Evacuations Across France, Spain, and Turkey
Nvidia Reportedly Takes Vast Texas Data-Centre Lease to Underwrite AI Expansion
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Apple Briefly Crosses Five Trillion Dollar Valuation as Investors Retreat From AI Bets
Fresh Heatwave Threatens to Rekindle France’s Historic Wildfire Crisis
Following OpenAI's Cyberattack: 'Most Companies Still Do Not Understand What Is Coming'
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Czech Central Bank Governor Rejects Early Euro Entry and Rate-Cut Pressure
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
Vivienne Westwood Casts Cicciolina, 74, in Its New Autumn Campaign
Dejavu: Germany’s Military Expansion Reshapes Europe’s Strategic Balance With France
Morgan Stanley Builds a Wall Street Lead in AI Infrastructure Finance
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Trump Draws Boos and Podium Scrutiny at Spain’s World Cup Triumph
Brilliant move: Péter Magyar Moves to Nominate Chess Grandmaster Judit Polgár as Hungary’s President
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Current AI Seeks to Build an Open Global AI Infrastructure Outside Big Tech Control
Germany’s Economic Malaise Reopens the Sunday Shopping Debate
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Netherlands Declares Water Shortage Emergency After Drought Pushes Rivers to Historic Lows
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
Ukrainian Drone Barrage Kills Eight and Strikes Russian Logistics Network
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The Monaco Bombing Has Become a Test of Ukraine’s Intelligence Accountability
Leadership Change and Strategic Rivalry Redraw the Political Map
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Britain Nationalises British Steel to Protect Scunthorpe Production and Strategic Supply
French National Assembly Overrides Senate to Pass Historic Assisted-Dying Legislation
×