Why School Is Broken

Shaurya Bahl doesn't hate school. He just thinks the system is fundamentally out of sync with how the world actually works now.

The Core Problem

School operates on a model designed for a different era -- one where information was scarce and the only way to access structured knowledge was through a classroom. That world doesn't exist anymore.

"I think we can gain knowledge and gain information from other ways and resources, and why go to school when Harvard and all are putting courses online?"

MIT OpenCourseWare. Stanford's free lectures. YouTube crash courses that teach you React in 3 hours. The entire knowledge layer of higher education is available for free, on demand, at any speed you want. School still runs at one speed -- the slowest person in the room.

What School Gets Wrong

1. Pace Is Fixed

Shaurya learns by building. When he wants to understand something, he builds a project around it and ships it in days. School takes a term to cover the same ground, spread across lectures, assignments, revision weeks, and exams. The gap between how fast he can learn independently and how slowly the system moves is enormous.

2. Most of the Curriculum Is Filler

Out of eight subjects, maybe two or three are directly useful for what Shaurya actually needs. Math and Physics serve his pilot dream. Computer Science reinforces what he already does independently. The rest? Required boxes to tick.

3. Building Is Not Rewarded

You don't get marks for shipping an iOS app. You don't get credit for running a B2B eSIM platform. The system rewards memorization and test performance, not creation. Shaurya has built more real-world products by age 15 than most people build in their entire education -- and none of it shows up on a report card.

What School Gets Right

Shaurya isn't naive about this. He still goes, and he still tries. Here's why:

• Math and Physics are non-negotiable. The Emirates Flight Training Academy requires them. Pilot licensing requires them. There's no shortcut.
• Discipline matters. Aviation demands showing up every day whether you feel like it or not. School trains that muscle.
• Social context. School is where his Dubai friends are. The daily rhythm of seeing Param, Saisha, Garvit matters.

The Tension

The real friction in Shaurya's life is time allocation. Every hour spent in a classroom is an hour not spent building LockIn, closing a Simplifly deal, or working on Raly. He manages this by treating school as a tool -- take what's useful, survive what isn't, and pour the remaining 2-3 hours of the day into what actually matters.

"What's the point of going to school? It's a waste of time. If I had time I could have spent on building something good and monetize it. But remember -- my goal is to be a pilot. So I just took the subjects I like."

The system isn't designed for someone like Shaurya. But he's figured out how to extract value from it while building around it.

See also: School & Education | Building Philosophy | The Pilot Dream | Self-Taught Philosophy