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Summary of Conversation: Gary Sheng, Lael Alexander, Josh Lange, Coleman Ferguson (June 3, 2025)

This document summarizes a strategic discussion between Gary Sheng, Lael Alexander, Josh Lange, and Coleman Ferguson on June 3, 2025. The conversation focused on developing a new educational system led by Lael, addressing the failures of current educational institutions, and positioning this new system to meet urgent national needs for skilled talent in technology and manufacturing, particularly in light of massive new AI and infrastructure projects.

1. Vision for "Alexander School System"​

  • Target Age Group: Lael specified focusing from "fifth grade and up" or essentially "middle school and up." (Lael: "I don't really have anything prepared for K through... Fifth grade and up... Middle school.")
    • Rationale: This is a good recruitment age as "Parents know what their kid's mannerism is by that time" and can direct them towards specializations like athletics, sciences, or music.
  • Comprehensive Curriculum: Lael confirmed the vision to cover diverse areas including athletics, sciences, and music, leveraging his belief that his musical background was essential to his broader scientific and technical abilities. (Lael: "I believe that if I didn't have that musical background, I wouldn't have been able to [achieve what I have].")
  • Location & Environment: Gary suggested the school could literally be in Lael's "backyard" or near his warehouse, emphasizing the power of an integrated environment designed by one visionary. (Gary: "It's another thing for like literally every aspect of this school was built by, was designed by one person. And so it's completely shocking.")
  • Core Principle - Creation over Reform: The group agreed that reforming existing broken systems is futile. The focus is on creation based on first principles.
    • Gary: "There's no reform. I just don't believe in reform anymore... We're not even using that as a basis. We're using first principles as a basis, right?"
    • Lael: "Transformation is what we're going for."
  • Initial Focus - Boys' School: Gary proposed starting with a boys-only school due to the urgent need for better male leadership and to create a disciplined, focused environment. Lael was receptive: "I'm so up on that."
    • Gary: "When you don't explicitly make something that is built for disciplining boys, you end up creating a feminized environment."

2. Strategic Positioning & Market Opportunity​

  • Leveraging Alpha Schools' Shortcomings: Gary suggested presenting the Alexander school vision as a more exciting alternative to what Alpha offers, potentially creating FOMO for Joe Liemandt. (Gary: "We're creating our own school system and you [Joe] can potentially invest, but with zero control, zero controlling shares.")
  • Vast Market Need: Coleman Ferguson emphasized the massive, unmet demand for skilled labor due to failing universities and new large-scale industrial projects.
    • Coleman: "Parents want to look to an alternative because who in the world would want to send their kid to Harvard? ... They're indoctrination camps."
    • Coleman: "You've got a fertile field here to capture... It's never been a better time."
  • Specific Industrial Demand: Discussion of huge projects like a $3.5 billion aluminum plant in Tulsa needing 5,000 workers, and $100 billion in projects along the Mississippi River, all facing talent shortages.
    • Coleman: "The big question on that aluminum plant is where are you going to get the people to build this?"
  • Memphis Opportunity: Gary highlighted Memphis, which has approved large AI and energy projects but lacks educational infrastructure and talent. He plans to visit and potentially involve Lael.
    • Gary: "I can fly to Memphis... And then I'll just FaceTime you [Lael]."
    • Lael: "Memphis is about to be another cooking... It'll be another spot."
  • Addressing the Skills Gap: The current education system isn't producing graduates capable of working on modern infrastructure or AI projects. The Alexander school would directly address this gap.
    • Gary: "If you need this power plant built... you don't have the talent pipeline. And so, you also have to invest in the talent pipeline."

3. Critique of Existing Educational & Political Systems​

  • Failure of Universities: Strong consensus that traditional universities are failing, becoming "indoctrination camps" (Coleman), pushing useless degrees (Josh), and not equipping students for real-world jobs.
    • Coleman: "95% of the professors are driven by their agendas."
  • University of Austin, TX Example: Gary cited UATX as a failed attempt at reform because it misdiagnosed the problem, merely swapping liberal influencers for conservative ones as professors, without fundamentally rethinking education. (Gary: "It's literally like a fundamental rethinking about how we rear children and how we develop leaders of the future.")
  • Character and Craftsmanship Decline: Josh noted a decline in craftsmanship in trades due to poor training and cronyism.
  • Spiritual Poverty: Lael connected the decline in educational outcomes to a cycle of societal ease and lack of struggle, leading to "spiritual poverty."
    • Lael: "Their kids [of the generation that struggled], because they didn't have to work so hard... did nothing. Which then spewed into the cycle of nothingness that created the poverty level again in education and academic... and spiritual poverty, honestly."
  • Need for "Obstacles" in Education: Lael emphasized that true learning and strength come from overcoming challenges, a component missing in modern instant-gratification culture.
    • Lael: "We have to bring you through that, Daniel's son [wax on, wax off]. That's what these kids are not willing to do... They want to skip past all of the things that builds the muscle strength and the mental strength. And that's going to be the code that we craft. We're life hackers. We have to hack this."

4. Lael Alexander's Educational Philosophy & AI​

  • Practical Knowledge over Degrees: Lael highlighted the inadequacy of purely academic knowledge (e.g., a BA degree in engineering) for real-world tasks, especially when it comes to prompting AI for practical applications in a plant.
    • Lael: "That BA degree can't even prompt the AI. Because he has no hands on knowledge."
  • Star Trek Analogy: Used Star Trek to illustrate that an AI (the ship's computer) might have all the data, but practical, hands-on experience (Scotty) often provides the superior solution. This underscores the need for technical aptitude.
  • Filling the Void: Lael feels his practical, first-principles approach is often missing in rooms filled with degree-holders who rely on case studies rather than fundamental problem-solving. (Lael: "I absolutely love walking into the room with these guys with the degrees. And I see how empty the room is until I fill it up.")

5. Gary Sheng's Role & Vision​

  • Capacity Building: Gary sees a top priority as "building the capacity" for this new educational vision.
  • Presenting the Vision: Plans to flesh out documentation for the "Alexander school system."
  • Leveraging Networks: Intends to bring influential people with capital to Lael, framing it as an investment in a superior educational model.
  • National Imperative & Trump: Gary believes that for Trump's presidency to succeed and for America to avoid a major bubble, they must empower this new educational and industrial vision.
    • Gary: "Trump could either be the most disappointing president of all time or... the most surprisingly good president of all time... And the choice is whether to empower us to step in..."
    • Gary: "We have to get people that can get into rooms fast and build trust fast and communicate a sense of urgency and, and good faith and, and also call out this person's a fraudster."

6. Business Development & Next Steps​

  • Documentation: Gary will start working on documentation for the new school concept, with Lael providing existing materials to supplement.
  • Tulsa as a Hub: The idea of Tulsa becoming the "next Austin, and even better" through these innovative schools and creation towns.
  • Immediate Opportunities: Aluminum plant in Tulsa, AI plants in Memphis/Abilene, and $100B in Mississippi River projects all highlight the urgent need for a new talent pipeline.
  • Coleman's Role: Implied that Coleman Ferguson is involved in business development and connecting Lael to these large-scale industrial opportunities.

Key Quotes​

  • Lael Alexander on Education Cycles: "The next educational system is going to inherently be better because the product of the one that failed reared an undesirable outcome."
  • Coleman Ferguson on Universities: "Who in the world would want to send their kid to Harvard? ... They're indoctrination camps."
  • Gary Sheng on Reform: "There's no reform. I just don't believe in reform anymore. I just don't."
  • Lael Alexander on Practical Knowledge: "That BA degree can't even prompt the AI. Because he has no hands on knowledge."
  • Gary Sheng on National Urgency: "America is about to be the biggest bubble ever that has ever popped if they don't empower us in a ridiculously huge way."

This meeting solidified a shared vision for creating a new, first-principles-based educational system led by Lael Alexander, with Gary Sheng driving the strategic narrative and business development, and Coleman Ferguson connecting to large-scale industrial needs. The urgency is underscored by both the failings of current institutions and the massive demand for a new generation of skilled, character-driven leaders and builders.