Anand Sanwal

On April 17, 2017, my dad passed away For the last 13 months, I worked @CBinsights and also ran his chemical manufacturing biz in India It was acquired on June 1 Lessons, thank yous and observations here cbinsights.com/research/team-…

Why is nobody talking about this?

This honey badger looks: A) ready for work B) ready to attack someone Please lmk w/ a simple A or B. Thx much.

The number 8 has been changed forever

@0Beanie05923291 💯 I hear this frequently when interviewing students for @ForgePrep Boys want books with characters that they connect with and can see themselves embodied in

@asanwal The content of what’s being read also likely plays a role. Much of it leans towards the feminine side. I’m currently reading I Survived the American Revolution with a class of all boys and they are locked in. The same was true for Farmer Boy and Across Five Aprils.

Boys struggle with reading in schools Many theories In order of evidence-base & plausibility, they are: ▪️ Boys' brains run 1-2 years behind girls on exec function. The herd has to move together so they don't really ever catch up. ▪️ Effort at school is increasingly negative. Boys worry about peers and being dubbed a "try hard". Girls have different challenges but not this one. ▪️ Reading gap shows up by 3rd grade and the gap compounds over time ▪️ 23% of US teachers are men. 17% of education degrees go to men. The pipeline of male teachers is drying up and schools have become 'feminized'. ▪️ Too much fidgeting and too much energy? Boys are not great at compliance and conformity so they get expelled 3x more, get medicated more, and are held back more. ▪️ Boys increasingly think college isn't worth the grind. On this one, it's increasingly hard to argue they're wrong. This is an urgent problem we do need to figure out.

Big news: @ForgePrep is now an accredited school Earlier this week, we were accredited by the Middle States Association. MSA is one of the oldest and most rigorous K-12 accrediting bodies in the country, certifying 3,000+ schools globally, including many of the most respected independent schools in our region. A peer team of educators from MSA member schools evaluated our curriculum, governance, financial plan, and safety protocols. Their findings then went to the MSA Commission, which voted to accredit us. It's the strongest independent validation we could earn, and it confirms in writing what we've been building toward from day 1 of Forge. A huge thank you to Christian Talbot (CEO of Middle States Association), Jake Galloway and the entire team at MSA-CESS for the thoughtful and rigorous process. And thanks to our founding families and guides who spent time with their accreditation team.

Disney plays the long game 2008: Disney opens a chain of English-learning centers across China. Kids learn their ABCs from Mickey, Ariel, Woody Gets to 44 locations, 100,000+ students. 2016: Shanghai Disneyland opens. Love how they built their customer. (note: biz shut down during covid)

Classic bread & circuses The leaders of our education system are incredibly good at this anandsanwal.me/bread-and-circ…

Schools jumping on the "tech is bad" train to distract you from their terrible product and mismanagement is actually a deviously smart and proven strategy

@Askmsdel @FixingEducation Agree. Enrollment driving state funding has led to a tolerance of lots of bad behavior. Teaching is in crisis. Highlighted the behavior problem here x.com/asanwal/status…

@asanwal @FixingEducation And, so is student quality - when was the last time you personally taught a class of 36 middle or high schoolers with severe behavior issues/constantly bullied/harassed you? They damn well know right vs. wrong, yet they get away with far too much, while Ts are punished.

When a state addresses its teacher shortage by lowering the standards to become a teacher, rather than focusing on making teaching a more sustainable and respected career, it signals a HUGE PROBLEM!

@poorrichard @ForgePrep Sure. Thx. We want someone who can coach our students on maintaining hives on or near our campus.

@asanwal @ForgePrep My interior designer works for a beekeeper in NJ. I don’t know much more than that. I can enquire.

We wanted to do beekeeping @ForgePrep But regulatory / insurance hurdles proved a bit onerous in NJ Any beekeepers in my network? Could we rent or lease hives in an existing apiary in NJ that students work on? Anyone got a NJ apiary hookup? #smallTAM

Enrollment is declining fastest in these 10 states

source: bellwether.org/publications/h…

Public school k-12 enrollment will continue its decline Projected to decline 7.6% vs its 2019 peak (note: y-axis chart crime)

Startup idea Home tattoo removal kit This is going to be a big market Being tattoo free will be unique/cool given ubiquity of tattoos now #cycles

Good suggestion by Yale faculty on how to fight grade inflation Include grades and also percentiles Yale % of grades that are A or A- 1963 - 10% 2022-23 - 79%