- Main Story: Students at the Alpha School rank in the top 1% nationwide in every subject by following AI-powered learning plans.
- Writer and entrepreneur David Perell highlights three fundamental ways the Alpha School is reshaping education.
- Also among this week’s stories: The behavioral psychology of investing amidst volatility, the ultimate decision, and mental models.
As a father of two young kids, I constantly think about how to provide my girls with the best possible education. We live in a period of unprecedented change. AI is going to profoundly alter the global economy — so it’s only logical that our education system should (and will) adapt as well.
One experiment that caught my attention this week was about the Alpha School in Texas, where students rank in the top 1% nationwide in every subject. But even more striking is how they achieve these results.
As the writer and entrepreneur David Perell explained this week, students at the Alpha School follow AI-powered, self-paced learning plans. They spend just two hours a day on academics — while mastering twice the material in half the time. The rest of the day focuses on essential life skills like public speaking, financial literacy, socialization, and teamwork—all facilitated by teachers.
In his post, David highlights three fundamental ways Alpha is reshaping education. For now, it’s a small experiment. But I suspect it’s just the very beginning of a major shift in American schooling.
Key quote: “Mastery learning simply means that you don’t move onto the next level until you know the material from the previous one. It’s the opposite of how schools work right now. In traditional learning, time is fixed (everyone gets exactly one school year for algebra) while learning is variable (some kids get A’s, others get C’s). In mastery learning, it’s flipped: learning is fixed (everyone masters the material) while time is variable (some finish in three weeks, others in three months).”
The psychology of investing in turbulent markets
In a recent essay, Drew Dickson of Albert Bridge Capital explores the behavioral psychology of investing amidst volatility: in short, it’s easy to get wrapped up in emotion. Falling stock prices fuel further declines, and that’s when the panic selling and herd mentality push stocks even lower.
The same dynamic applies in reverse — rising prices attract buyers driven by FOMO, confirmation bias, and social media hype. Dickson argues the key is cutting through noise and focusing on fundamentals — if you knew a company’s future financials, investing would be nearly foolproof. While no one has a crystal ball, improving fundamental analysis and bet sizing can tilt the odds in your favor.
Key quote: “From an emotional or behavioral perspective, when stocks start moving higher, could ambiguity aversion be dissipating faster than is warranted, or indeed beyond the point where some ambiguity should be priced in? In other words, do some investors lose any sense of concern or worry, when they shouldn’t?”
Recent podcast:
On JUST PRESS RECORD, I sat down with Matt Zeigler, Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor at Sunpoint Investments, to chat business longevity, the value of serendipity, our approach to thinking about risk, and long-term patience.
A few more links I enjoyed:
The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions – via Jason Zweig / WSJ
Key quote: “But I never got to say goodbye to Danny and don’t fully understand why he felt he had to go. His death raises profound questions: How did the world’s leading authority on decision-making make the ultimate decision? How closely did he follow his own precepts on how to make good choices? How does his decision fit into the growing debate over the downsides of extreme longevity? How much control do we, and should we, have over our own death?”
AI Boom Reshapes Power Landscape as Data Centers Drive Historic Demand Growth – via Power Magazine
Key quote: “The power industry was once considered slow-moving and perhaps even boring. That is no longer the case as technology has expanded and power demand projections skyrocket. New reports released by analysts at Enverus and Deloitte are examined to provide insight on what’s likely to evolve in the power industry over the coming year and beyond.”
Have humans passed peak brain power? – via Financial Times
Key quote: “Nobody would argue that the fundamental biology of the human brain has changed in that far-too-short time span. However, across a range of tests, the average person’s ability to reason and solve novel problems appears to have peaked in the early 2010s and has been declining ever since.”
Christopher Tsai on Tesla – via The Guardian
Key quote: “Tsai recently told his investors in a letter that his firm considers Tesla to be more of a creator of advanced electronics and software that it attaches to cars rather than a traditional automotive manufacturer and he insisted that the EV maker remained ‘on a path to become one of the most valuable companies on the planet.'”
From the archives:
How to Make Smart Decisions Without Getting Lucky – via Shane Parrish
Key quote: “You probably don’t know it but you already think in mental models. A mental model is a compression of how something works. Mental models help us understand the world. For example, velocity is a mental model that teaches both speed and direction matter. Reciprocity is a mental model that shows why going positive and going first puts the world on your side. Relativity is a mental model that shows us we have blind spots and how a different perspective can reveal new information. The list goes on.”
