When I introduced Miramar Technical High School in Mesh, you might have wondered if a school like this could exist. Not only could it, it already does. Miramar was inspired by real-world schools like Deep Springs College in California and the Putney School in Vermont. Boarding schools have different reputations, but some of them can be amazing places. Recently, 60 Minutes did a story on Deep Springs College in California and it illustrates Dr. Gray’s teaching philosophy to a tee:
Deep Springs was built on a kind of formula: take a handful of the best and brightest, put them in the middle of nowhere. Add rigorous academics, labor, and autonomy and you’ll get future leaders.
It’s not for everyone. A particular type of person finds all this appealing. Content practicing Brahms and bailing hay. Casual, brainy, indifferent to sleep.
“What else typifies a Deep Springs student?” “We’re typically pretty awkward. In the real world, we’re definitely not the cool kids. What else? We’re not delicate, usually. We’re not usually some delicate people.”
That’s almost exactly what I said about Miramar:
Doctor Gray, you’ve been on Forbes’ Billionaires List for over ten years. You’ve created several world-class businesses, almost from scratch. Why did you leave all that behind to start running a school in San Diego?”
“Good question,” Gray said. “After my first billion dollars, I sat down with some of our top minds to ask: ‘where do we go from here?’ Their answer was that old quote: ‘A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.’ That’s my job now: planting those trees.”
“But what does that mean? After a hundred years of business and culture disruption, the public can’t help but wonder what those trees might grow into. I understand you and the school are working to solve this problem.”
“Absolutely,” Gray answered. “Along with our other projects, we’re creating new tribes to carry America through the next forty or fifty years of innovation.” – [Mesh Chapter 2.2]
So Miramar Technical High School, like many other parts of Mesh, comes from a real place. Kids, especially Stars in a Jar, really do benefit from boarding schools. Some schools really are raising the next leaders of America. Will you be one of those Stars in a Jar? Is Mesh really an accurate depiction of where the future is headed? There’s only one way to find out: we have to get there together.
Write on!