Fans of ABC’s Shark Tank may recognize Chris Sacca as the bearded, cowboy shirt-wearing guest shark who first started appearing this season. As the manager of Lowercase Capital, one of the largest venture funds in the United States, he was an early-stage investor in companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Kickstarter. He also holds both an undergraduate and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Here’s what Sacca had to say on a recent podcast when asked what he would do if he could start his own school to educate youth.
“What if you started a school that presupposed the goal was happy kids? And I mean happy with a capital ‘H.’ Balanced. Thoughtful. Compassionate. Doers. What if their resume wouldn’t ever matter? Some of you have heard me say before that the only people who care about your GPA are people who you’ve given no other basis to evaluate you. What if instead you wanted to build an education that fostered interesting, understanding, action, experience? I don’t know what that school looks like, but that’s how my wife, Crystal, and I have been approaching raising our three daughters. I’ve yet to see test scores correlate with happiness. I’ve yet to even see test scores correlate with learning with a capital ‘L.'”
I like not only the message, but also the fact that he’s not blaming schools or punting the responsibility to anyone else to teach his kids what he thinks is important. Instead, he’s focusing on what he can control—the learning at home.
You can hear the entire interview here.