> Garry Tan, the local venture capitalist who has for years railed against progressive politicians on social media
You mean Garry, who has protested the dumbing down of schools?
Garry, who protests removing math from the curriculum?
He's "railed against progressive politicians" by supporting education and high achievement?
You know China and Asia are laughing at us, right? They do schooling right. We are so backwards.
I was bullied, beaten, sexually assaulted, name called, told to commit suicide, told I was a parentless bastard (I was adopted) in elementary and middle school by my peers. Yet the system did nothing to help me.
I was the only one in my class that tested into early algebra, I led the theater team, I won my elementary school's geography bee, and very nearly won the spelling bee (except for a teacher that unfairly disqualified me) - yet I was the problem for being smart and over-performing. The system catered to my abusers.
Do you know the amount of energy that was required to save me from the stupid public education system? It almost killed me, and it absolutely smothered my growth.
I weep for what my younger ten year old self went through. Because I know there are thousands of kids going through the same experience. It's probably worse now.
Any "progressive" that is pro-bully, anti-education is a problem.
So are Elon, JPMorgan Chase and IBM "anti-education"?
From the article you linked:
“I think the value of a college education is somewhat overweighted,” Musk said in a video he later reposted on X. “Too many people spend four years, accumulate a ton of debt, and often don’t have useful skills that they can apply afterwards.”
And because some young people have already caught on—and begun exploring alternative education pathways—many companies like JPMorgan Chase and IBM have scaled back their degree requirements on job postings. Michael Bush, the CEO of Great Place to Work, predicts this trend will only continue to grow.
“Almost everyone is realizing that they’re missing out on great talent by having a degree requirement,” he previously told Fortune. “That snowball is just growing.”
It's certainly ... convenient that any criticism of a wealthy tech oligarch can be dismissed as "anti-education" as a rhetorical cudgel. It's not like others may actually have problems with say, his actual beliefs, the specific methods Tan uses to "promote" education (attacking school teachers/etc), further concentration of power to SV billionaires, etc.
And as you say, somewhat comical to lob that accusation given the current crop of tech oligarchs are firmly aligned with a overtly intellectual/anti-education movement on the right and are systematically working to dismantle higher education at this very moment.
As an aside, there has been a crazy amount of (brigaded?) flagging/downvoting of comments critical of Tan in this thread. Each time I check back I see fairly anodyne comments go back and forth from grey, with a few eventually nuked by flagging). Can't think of a similar recent example of an HN thread with the same patterns even with highly charged/controversial topics.
You mean Garry, who has protested the dumbing down of schools?
Garry, who protests removing math from the curriculum?
He's "railed against progressive politicians" by supporting education and high achievement?
You know China and Asia are laughing at us, right? They do schooling right. We are so backwards.
I was bullied, beaten, sexually assaulted, name called, told to commit suicide, told I was a parentless bastard (I was adopted) in elementary and middle school by my peers. Yet the system did nothing to help me.
I was the only one in my class that tested into early algebra, I led the theater team, I won my elementary school's geography bee, and very nearly won the spelling bee (except for a teacher that unfairly disqualified me) - yet I was the problem for being smart and over-performing. The system catered to my abusers.
Do you know the amount of energy that was required to save me from the stupid public education system? It almost killed me, and it absolutely smothered my growth.
I weep for what my younger ten year old self went through. Because I know there are thousands of kids going through the same experience. It's probably worse now.
Any "progressive" that is pro-bully, anti-education is a problem.
Garry's stance:
https://x.com/garrytan/status/1650607982991011846
https://x.com/garrytan/status/1978187709169401956
https://fortune.com/2025/07/10/tech-ceo-garry-tan-y-combinat...
Garry is a stand-up guy. This is a hit piece.
Edit: -2 within minutes of posting this. I don't even understand nerds anymore. You shouldn't embrace anti-education.