Elon Musk: People Now Teach Tools, Not Problems
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that people now teach tools rather than teaching problems. He likened it to teaching separate classes on screwdrivers and wrenches, while students do not understand why these tools exist.
He suggested reversing the correct order. First, provide an engine, with the goal of understanding how it works, and then take it apart; during the disassembly process, tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, cranes, and pulleys come into play, with their uses arising from the problems at hand. He believes this approach engages people, where knowledge of tools is a byproduct of disassembly, not the starting point of the curriculum.
He contrasted this with conventional courses: first a screwdriver class, then a wrench class, where students might question why they need to learn about wrenches. He compared this to teaching calculus without explaining its purpose, leading to forgetfulness after the course. He emphasized that when teaching children, it is essential to explain why the subject is important before teaching problem-solving, rather than just providing a list of tools.
This perspective connects with his approach to founding a school. In 2014, he established Ad Astra for his children at the SpaceX campus, which later became independent as Astra Nova, with a public stance of teaching based on problems rather than grade levels. In hiring, he repeatedly seeks engineers who can deconstruct problems, rather than those who only hold specific software or certificates. His remarks did not provide new school openings, tuition, or course schedules.
The commercial form of tool classes has already spread outside. Classes on programming languages, prompts, and certifications are sold based on tools, with completion rates relying on outlines rather than a machine to be disassembled. Musk's criticism shifts the demand from "learning a specific wrench" to "first having a machine to disassemble." If artificial intelligence courses only teach model names and buttons, they fall into the category of screwdriver classes he mentioned.
This represents a re-pricing of event-driven educational products, not policy. Buyers are parents and companies wanting their children and employees to encounter problems first, while sellers are training institutions charging for tools and certificates. Beneficiaries are schools and internal training programs that prioritize projects, deconstruction, and real tasks in their curricula; those under pressure are tool certifications detached from practical use. Funding will not leave the public system due to a metaphor, but corporate training budgets will shift from tool certificates to projects that correspond to specific problems.
Source: Public Information
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Musk withdrew his children from conventional schools in 2014 to establish Ad Astra at the SpaceX campus, arguing that progress and exams are subject-based rather than problem-oriented. The school later became independent as Astra Nova, and he no longer operates it, but this path remains in public records. In SpaceX's early hiring, the focus was on solving propulsion and manufacturing issues, redesigning after three failures of Falcon 1, rather than filtering candidates by tool certificates. Tesla's 4680 battery and integrated casting also prioritized cost and production issues before selecting equipment.
Capital follows problems, not course schedules. He invests in rockets, cars, and artificial intelligence, acquiring tools afterward: a wrench appears only after an engine needs disassembly; a model needs training before clusters emerge. His educational remarks reflect the same sequence. The certification industry's selling method is the opposite, first selling Python, then prompts, and then calculus credits, with the purpose discussed later. Astra Nova and project-based training within companies sell the sequence of deconstruction, not a new wrench.
The analogy is similar to case-based teaching in medical schools versus anatomy terminology classes. Harvard Medical School, in the early 20th century, placed case studies ahead of lectures, with tools and terminology emerging in diagnosis. Capstone projects in engineering education follow the same structure, but most courses still start with a list of tools at the beginning of the semester. The current phase is a transitional period: artificial intelligence accelerates the production speed of tool classes to weekly updates, while screwdriver classes have not yet concluded, and wrenches are already outdated.
Structurally, this represents a transfer of pricing power. Degrees and certificates previously set the price for tool knowledge, with employers purchasing talent based on course catalogs. Once problems are placed at the forefront, pricing power returns to those who can define problems: companies, projects, and real machines. The mechanism is the forgetting curve; the kind of purposeless calculus he mentioned will be forgotten because there is no engine to anchor the tools. Tool classes sell well because certificates can still be exchanged for filtering; problem classes are difficult to standardize, thus consistently relinquishing pricing power.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
First comes the engine, then the wrench has a price.
Courses that do not explain their purpose depreciate upon completion.
The faster tools are updated, the less valuable tool classes become.