Anand Sanwal

1 month ago | anandsanwal.me | Anand Sanwal

This essay first appeared in my newsletter Sign up here if interested in Unf^cking Education. Harvard’s own dean of undergraduate education recently made a startling admission in the New York Times: “Students feel the need to distinguish themselves outside the classroom because they are essentially indistinguishable inside the classroom.“This isn’t just about grade inflation—it’s a tacit acknowledgment that even at America’s most prestigious university, the classroom has become secondary.

2 months ago | anandsanwal.me | Anand Sanwal

Our schools today look strikingly similar to those of 1940—because we’ve never stopped to ask the most important question: What is the actual goal of education? We pour billions of dollars into education every year. We send our kids through it for over a decade. And yet, ask a parent, teacher or administrator—what’s the actual goal of education?—and you’ll usually hear:“Preparing kids for the future.”“Teaching them to think.”“Helping them learn how to learn.”Vague. Empty. Circular.

2 months ago | anandsanwal.me | Anand Sanwal

If our schools were challenged to teach you how to ride a bike, you would:Study pedaling for a monthThen adjust seat heights for a monthFollowed by practicing brakingYou’d then examine tire physicsAnd finally, you’d learn about steeringThere’d be rubrics and lesson plans and you’d do this all without ever actually riding a bike on an actual road.

2 months ago | anandsanwal.me | Anand Sanwal

This essay first appeared in my newsletter. Sign up here if interested in F’ing up the status quo and fixing educationOne of the strangest educational traditions we’ve adopted is the belief that we must teach students about current events. It seems so obviously correct that few question it. What could be more important than understanding what’s happening in the world right now? This assumption doesn’t just deserve scrutiny—it needs to be challenged directly.

Mar 7, 2025 | anandsanwal.me | Anand Sanwal

This essay first appeared in my newsletter. Sign up here if interested in F’ing up the status quo and fixing educationA 2019 LEGO survey of 3,000 children across the US, UK, and China found that in the USA, nearly three times as many kids wanted to be YouTubers (29%) than astronauts (11%). More recent surveys show this trend has only accelerated. Most adults see this as a disaster. “Kids today are shallow,” they lament. “They’ve lost ambition.”But they’ve got it backward.