My 2c on Australian education and investing in Sydney's first STEM high school

Those who know me well will know that beyond investing in public companies, I also started looking into "private companies". I figured this would allow my avid readers to get a better sense of my wider life beyond my job as an Investment Analyst in a hedge fund based in Sydney.

Quite a number of people enjoy hearing the thoughts in my head... So here goes.

I tutor mathematics to a year 9 student and I have been doing this for nearly 2 years now. And I love it. I try to instill in him a sense of a tutor that I never had in my high school days. Below is a thought piece on some observations about the NSW education system that I've decided to share on my blog to a wider audience, that I initially shared with my student and his family. Obviously for privacy reasons, I will not say the student's name. This is what I wrote to him...

My private investment in an upcoming STEM-focused private high school (for yr 11-12) based in Sydney - and the inner working perspectives it gives me and the principles I hope to share:

• The unique competitive advantage I have to other tutors (and please tell me if you can find a tutor with this experience), is that none that I am aware of, have experience privately investing in a private school

• As a full disclaimer, I have invested a substantial ~40% of my net worth (updated as of year ending 2020) of my own money since early 2019 into this private high school

• I’ve become quite involved in seeing the build-up of Sydney Science College, seeing it transition from a tutoring college to now also a NESA approved high school

• The education system of Australia is one that although average, is lacking in many respects

• See below chart of 2015 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores across countries to get a sense of the knowledge gap (although I will admit standardised tests are not necessarily the be-all and end-all):

• See below a chart of teaching staff shortages in advantaged vs disadvantaged schools (based on index surveys over several recent years), and Australia falls behind almost atrociously...

PISA scores from 2015 by country

• Whilst not the only charts to focus on, these KPIs (key performance indicators) give a directional sense that Australia is far behind its competitors from the education front

Teacher shortage results in 2015 by country

• Education is the leading indicator of innovation and productivity, which drives countries to greatness - this can be seen in the factors which drive great empires:

Ray Dalio (Founder of the largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates) highlights the different empires that have risen and fallen over the last few centuries and the factors above give a general logic as to why they rose and fell, i.e. the cause and effect relationships for empires

Ray Dalio (Founder of the largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates) highlights the different empires that have risen and fallen over the last few centuries and the factors above give a general logic as to why they rose and fell, i.e. the cause and effect relationships for empires.

• Whilst Australia is not US and not China, it does not mean that we can’t take a lesson from the great empires of old and the reasons for their rise and fall...

• That to me, appears to be the vision of Sydney Science College ultimately… To educate and inspire the 21st-century students to innovate and be productive like never before in Australia

• Sydney Science College is the first of its kind in NSW, the first STEM high school offering a tailored practical education to year 11-12 students, hoping to take in its first cohort of students in 2021

• The uniqueness of the school lies in the lack of bureaucracy with co-principals, ideally 6 students per class, and an eclectic team of teachers from diverse backgrounds like dentistry, law, botany, academia, etc

• The school serves to treat the students like adults - that means giving them more freedom with their pursuits, giving them the time to think critically (in shorter class time spans), and specialising students to focus on what inspires them (with smaller classes where the teachers can build a better relationship with each student)

• I’ve had the privilege to see a school start from the ground up and form a relationship with the co-principal, Joey Tsao, that I speak to on a regular basis

• So how does all this translate into my thoughts on my teaching style with my maths student?

  • Means treating my student like I would an adult in a mentor/mentee type relationship

  • Means trying to link the theory to the real world more often to give context and relevance and purpose to the work we do

  • Means reinforcing the idea of mental models as a framework to understand, and retain the different mathematical concepts for the structural long term

  • Means where appropriate and relevant, deviating beyond the high school textbook because there are better resources to teach my student

  • Means stronger relationship building by having more regular check-ups whether via phone or SMS

  • Means building a holistic understanding of seeing the world, which means I am not limiting myself to just mathematical examples when I teach, but sprinkling history, chemistry, physics, English, art, film, geography, finance, technology, etc. into my lessons (whilst ensuring we are not carried away by those subjects of course)

This post is more of a rambling type than anything else. I remain committed to teaching my student and hopefully incorporating some of the observations and lessons I've taken from privately investing in a private high school with my student.

I suppose the purpose of this post was more focused on simply voicing some of my thoughts, that people generally like to hear.

For the Australians reading this, have a good long weekend,

Michael Li