The school bundle (Ricky Weekly #52)
This is where I share 3 things every week with my friends and anyone else interested.
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A picture from my life:
We did a virtual friendsgiving this week and sent food to each other. Ryan was my secret turkey santa and he sent me Starbucks and ramen, which are my two favorite food categories. Good looking out bruh. 👊
Thing on my mind:
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I stayed in SF because I was just down in LA a few weeks ago and under too much stress to consider flying to Taiwan. I typically divide my family time between LA and Taiwan, spending about 10 days a year in each location. I don’t feel great about that number, but spending more time stresses me out, so that’s what I’ve settled on for now. I do think about the WaitButWhy article about how I’ve used up most of my in-person time with parents already, and that bothers me.
You know how when you’re obsessed with an idea, you see it everywhere due to confirmation bias. A few weeks ago it was “kayfabe,” and now it’s “bundles.” Previously I thought of bundling as simply a way to maximize consumer surplus in a product, but since realizing that you can apply it to explain why social experiences IRL are better than virtual, I see bundles everywhere 👀.
Recently I read about Stanford canceling its wrestling program and ten other varsity sports because of a budget deficit, and how the alumni put together $10M to try to save it. Students voiced their discontent saying that if alumni can put together $10M for wrestling, they can put that money towards students struggling financially instead. The whole idea that less popular athletic programs with predominantly white athletes are supported financially by football and basketball with predominantly black athletes blew my mind when I first learned about it on the Code Switch podcast. The exploitation of football and basketball players has been a hot topic for the last few years and two weeks ago the NCAA finally proposed a rule-change to allow student-athletes to make money off of their likeness. All that got me thinking about the student-athlete bundle.
In Europe they have youth academies where kids as young as six can join to train to become a professional footballer (soccer player). I don’t know much about youth academies, but they seem like a less desirable bundle because they’re purely about sports. If you make the cut, you can get paid when you turn 17, which is way earlier than the American system where sports is an “extracurricular,” but if you don’t make it, you’re SOL. I feel like the American system offers more consumer surplus. Even if American schools under-compensate the most talented athletes, they offer everyone else free degrees in a game where very few will actually make it to the pro stage. That degree ends up being the most valuable “way out” for students who excel at sports.
I’m not an athlete but I loved college because it was bundled with student activities. A friend said recently, “imagine if Stanford didn’t have any clubs or student orgs, that would’ve been terrible.” I’ve never thought about it like that but it’s true. I didn’t take advantage of the academic resources as much as I should’ve, but I experienced dramatic personal growth from my involvement in student groups. They’re the reason why I do what I do today and I’m so grateful.
A richer bundle is what I think is missing in all of the e-learning initiatives. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) unbundled the courses from schools but anyone who has taken a MOOC or anyone doing Zoom school right now knows that you have to be extremely motivated to stay engaged. Recently there are startups helping create “Cohort-Based Courses,” which is an improvement in the e-learning experience because it adds the community of students into the bundle. School is valuable because it’s about way more than just the courses.
One last thought. Work is a bundle too because pre-Covid you’d go to work and you’d get to build meaningful relationships with colleagues, especially if you work at a large, reputable company that is a magnet for talent. I realized that’s what I’ve been missing out on as someone who’s chosen the startup path where I’m usually operating at sub-scale. The most meaningful relationships I have are still from college because relationships built on frequent, regular interactions tend to be the most meaningful. So I’ve been thinking about how to create that for myself. What is the equivalent of a student club, but for life after school? I don’t think it’s just hobbyist groups like my rec league basketball team because that’s too focused on the hobby without another point of shared interest. A basketball league for startups is a little better but the competition is weaker. I’ve enjoyed being part of a small mastermind group. That seems to be the closest thing to what I’m looking for. Has anyone thought about this problem?
Piece of content I recommend:
Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ (h/t David Tran and Liz Sia)
I know I gushed about Insecure on HBO before, but given that it’s the end of the year, Ted Lasso will probably take the crown as the best TV show of 2020 IMO especially given how bad the year’s been. I watched it all this past week and was filled with joy by the unrelenting optimism and positivity. I bursted out laughing so many times and here’s my favorite scene. Omg HILARIOUS (if you get the reference).
🤗
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As always, you can find out what I’m thinking in more real-time on Twitter and my essays are on my website. My latest essay is called “All social media is now parasocial.”