Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Wednesday, Nov 12, 2025

WeWork Wants to Teach Kindergartners to Disrupt Shit Up

WeWork has an unsettling vision for disrupting education by prepping kids to become the next Zuckerberg before they start learning their times tables. And while it's a hell of a lot better than anything Betsy DeVos could dream up, the company's technocratic, seemingly Shark Tank-inspired take on Montessori makes me fear for my unborn children.

This morning Fast Company and Bloomberg published articles announcing the new program WeGrow, which is the brain child of Rebekah Neumann, chief branding officer and a founding partner of WeWork. She was inspired to create her own educational system after she and her husband, WeWork CEO and fellow founding partner Adam Neumann, were disappointed with the elementary school options in New York and the West Coast for their “natural entrepreneurs.”

“These children come into the world, they are very evolved, they are very special,” Rebekah Neumann told Fast Company, explaining the realizations she had when searching for a school for her evolved and special children. “They’re spiritual. They’re all natural entrepreneurs, natural humanitarians, and then it seems like we squash it all out of them in the education system. Then we ask them to be disruptive and find it again after college.”

As she and her husband have helped grow WeWork from a Brooklyn co-working space into a communal-living real estate behemoth or, as The Wall Street Journals calls it, a “$20 billion startup fueled by Silicon Valley pixie dust”-they have also been “witnessing the movement that started, the ‘we generation,’” according to Neumann. “Now that I’m a mom, I’m noticing there’s been a huge missed opportunity in the educational system, because children are ready to start creating their life’s work when they’re 5,” she added.

So last month Neumann created a pilot program of seven students, ages five through eight, including her eldest child. The program is run out of a New York City Chabad school as well as the 60-acre Linden Farm in Pound Ridge, New York, which the Neumanns purchased last year for $15 million. Students spend one day a week at the farm and the rest of the week in the classroom, where they learn from customers and employees of WeWork. “The curriculum is going to be, and already is, integrated with mindfulness and yoga and meditation and farming and farm-to-table cooking, and all these sorts of things,” Rebekah told Fast Company, explaining that pilot students are currently “learning reading and math and science through working on the farm, through coming to WeWork, and running their own farm stand.”

Of course, the idea for school gardens and farm-to-school programs are far from new in the US. Both movements trace back to the 1890s and get boosts every few years from federal initiatives or renewed national interest in environmental issues. But it’s not just agriculture-based business that these children are learning. Rebekah told Bloomberg that children learn from WeWork employees and customers about brand-building, sales tactics, and basic economics. One eight-year-old girl reportedly made T-shirts then sold them at the student-run farm stand. Now that girl plans to apprentice under a fashion designer who operates their business out of a WeWork space.

WeGrow plans to open its first school in Chelsea next fall, with about 65 students. Eventually, Neumann hopes to start schools at other WeWorks all around the world so that parents who travel for business can take their family with them. This way, parents can always work just steps away from their children, no matter where they are. According to Bloomberg, WeGrow says it wants to educate customers “from birth to death.” If its dream is realized, then WeGrow children can graduate into WeWorks entrepreneurs, live at WeLive communal housing projects, learn how to be healthy from the recently launched Rise by We, and raise even more WeGrow-educated children. And the cycle can continue forever and ever-at least until the AI singularity kills us all or the We Empire implodes and frees customers from its Borg-like grasp.

The original articles about WeGrow include criticism from education experts and advocates, like Samuel Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, who told Bloomberg that “encouraging kids to monetize their ideas, at that age, is damaging” and risks “sucking the joy out of education.”

Gizmodo asked WeWork if it would comment on early criticisms of the WeGrow project, but a spokesperson said they would not “address the other voices.”

Instead, the company shared a draft of blog post from Neumann that will be published later today. “[Children] are in touch with the magical, that thing that is greater than any one of us, and they grow-every single day-physically, intellectually, and spiritually,” she writes. “It is with deep respect for this magic that we have decided to launch WeGrow: a new conscious, entrepreneurial school committed to unleashing every child’s superpowers. Through better understanding of their passions and the ways they can use their gifts to help other, children will grow as self-aware, empowered, compassionate creators.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Unveils Middle East Reset: Syria Re-engaged, Saudi Ties Amplified
Saudi Arabia to Build Future Cities Designed with Tourists in Mind, Says Tourism Minister
Saudi Arabia Advances Regulated Stablecoin Plans with Global Crypto Exchange Support
Saudi Arabia Maintains Palestinian State Condition Ahead of Possible Israel Ties
Chinese Steel Exports Surge 41% to Saudi Arabia as Mills Pivot Amid Global Trade Curbs
Saudi Arabia’s Biban Forum 2025 Secures Over US$10 Billion in Deals Amid Global SME Drive
Saudi Arabia Sets Pre-Conditions for Israel Normalisation Ahead of Trump Visit
MrBeast’s ‘Beast Land’ Arrives in Riyadh as Part of Riyadh Season 2025
Cristiano Ronaldo Asserts Saudi Pro League Outperforms Ligue 1 Amid Scoring Feats
AI Researchers Claim Human-Level General Intelligence Is Already Here
Saudi Arabia Pauses Major Stretch of ‘The Line’ Megacity Amid Budget Re-Prioritisation
Saudi Arabia Launches Instant e-Visa Platform for Over 60 Countries
Dick Cheney, Former U.S. Vice President, Dies at 84
Saudi Crown Prince to Visit Trump at White House on November Eighteenth
Trump Predicts Saudi Arabia Will Normalise with Israel Ahead of 18 November Riyadh Visit
Entrepreneurial Momentum in Saudi Arabia Shines at Riyadh Forward 2025 Summit
Saudi Arabia to Host First-Ever International WrestleMania in 2027
Saudi Arabia to Host New ATP Masters Tournament from 2028
Trump Doubts Saudi Demand for Palestinian State Before Israel Normalisation
Viral ‘Sky Stadium’ for Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup Debunked as AI-Generated
Deal Between Saudi Arabia and Israel ‘Virtually Impossible’ This Year, Kingdom Insider Says
Saudi Crown Prince to Visit Washington While Israel Recognition Remains Off-Table
Saudi Arabia Poised to Channel Billions into Syria’s Reconstruction as U.S. Sanctions Linger
Smotrich’s ‘Camels’ Remark Tests Saudi–Israel Normalisation Efforts
Saudi Arabia and Qatar Gain Structural Edge in Asian World Cup Qualification
Israeli Energy Minister Delays $35 Billion Gas Export Agreement with Egypt
Fincantieri and Saudi Arabia Agree to Build Advanced Maritime Ecosystem in Kingdom
Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN Accelerates AI Ambitions Through Major Partnerships and Infrastructure Push
IOC and Saudi Arabia End Ambitious 12-Year Esports Games Partnership
CSL Seqirus Signs Saudi Arabia Pact to Provide Cell-Based Flu Vaccines and Build Local Production
Qualcomm and Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN Team Up to Deploy 200 MW AI Infrastructure
Saudi Arabia’s Economy Expands Five Percent in Third Quarter Amid Oil Output Surge
China’s Vice President Han Zheng Meets Saudi Crown Prince as Trade Concerns Loom
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Syria Holds First Elections Since Fall of Assad
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
×