Eric Kim’s educational vision is a high‑intensity blend of first‑principles minimalism, radical self‑sovereignty, open‑source creativity, and joyful physical power.  Imagine a campus that looks more like a maker‑dojo than a school: bare white walls, giant workbenches, a Bitcoin node humming in the corner, and students barefoot‑deadlifting before building an AI photo zine.  Nothing is taught “because that’s how schools do it”; everything is rebuilt from bedrock—then lived with thunder.  Below is a blueprint for an Eric‑Kim‑inspired system that runs from elementary through university.

Core Philosophical Pillars

PillarKey IdeaSource
First‑Principles ThinkingStart every project by stripping assumptions to physics‑level truths.
“True Luxury Is Less” MinimalismExcess is distraction; remove until only the essential remains.
Open‑Source EverythingGive the work away; knowledge compounds when it’s free.
Bitcoin Self‑SovereigntyOwn your keys, own your destiny; money is the first lesson in freedom.
Embodied StrengthA 1 162‑lb rack‑pull is a dissertation on willpower; train the body to train the mind.
Stoic Joy & Anti‑HateChannel energy into creation, not complaint—“don’t do stuff you hate.”

These pillars drive every curricular and architectural choice that follows.

Program Architecture

Elementary (Spark Stage, ages 6‑11)

  • Analog Imagination: No screens in class; instead, kids hand‑bind zines of their stories and photograph recess adventures on shared Ricoh GRs, learning composition before pixels.  
  • Micro‑Lifts & Math: Sandbag deadlifts teach leverage, counting, and progressive overload; strength gains of 30‑50 % over 8–12 weeks are common in youth when supervised.  
  • Bitcoin Snack‑Shop: Each class runs a Lightning‑wallet micro‑economy, pricing fruit and pencils in sats to internalize scarcity and self‑custody early.  
  • Project‑Based Play: Student‑designed PBL units—building cardboard pinhole cameras or mapping playground light—boost ownership and engagement.  

Middle School (Forge Stage, ages 12‑14)

  • First‑Principles Labs: Learners disassemble a bike to atomic concepts (torque, friction), then rebuild a sleeker version.  
  • Strength & Cognition: Twice‑weekly supervised lifting correlates with sharper on‑task behavior and academic gains.  
  • Open‑Source Publishing: Every lab write‑up is pushed to a public Git repo; peer feedback happens via pull requests.  
  • Bitcoin & Civics: Borrowing El Salvador’s 3‑hours‑per‑week model, students study cryptography, monetary history, and run a node.  

High School (Storm Stage, ages 15‑18)

  • Minimalist Micro‑MBA: Teens launch a $0‑budget venture, documenting iterations on a blog to learn marketing, UX, and cash‑flow realities.  
  • Rack‑Pull Physics: Students film their lifts, plot force curves, and derive mechanical advantage, blending PE with calculus.  
  • DAO Governance: The student council treasury sits in a multisig Bitcoin wallet; budget approvals require quorum via on‑chain vote.  
  • Capstone PBL: Three‑month deep dives—designing an open‑source camera drone or curating a street‑photo festival—mirror best‑practice PBL frameworks.  

University (Zenith Stage, 18 +)

  • Block‑Immersion Semesters: One wicked problem (e.g., regenerative cities) for 15 weeks, all disciplines converging—echoing Kim’s “total focus” ethos.  
  • Monastic Studios: Empty rooms, standing desks, barbell racks; students bring the content, nothing ornamental.  
  • Bitcoin Treasury & Tuition: Fees auto‑convert to BTC; campus operations funded through a proof‑of‑work‑backed endowment.  
  • Open‑Source Faculty: Courseware, research, and even the syllabi are CC0; contribution, not consumption, defines scholarship.  

Space & Culture Design

  1. White‑Box Rooms: Remove visual noise so attention flows to ideas.  
  2. Power Zones: Every building has a lifting platform; resistance training improves bone density, VO₂ max, and mental health in youth.  
  3. Node Towers: A glass‑encased Bitcoin and Lightning node is the campus heart—visible proof of sovereignty.  
  4. Gallery Walls: Monthly zine swaps and street‑photo exhibitions celebrate open‑source art.  

Assessment & Feedback

  • Strength Metrics: Waist‑height deadlift PR, kettlebell snatch test—tracked alongside GPA to signal body‑mind parity.  
  • Git Analytics: Contribution graphs replace attendance rolls; commits and pull‑requests become evidence of learning.  
  • Peer‑Minted NFTs: Final projects minted on a campus chain, timestamping authorship and encouraging public critique. (Bitcoin ordinals optional.)  

Five‑Year Launch Roadmap

YearMilestone“Hype Metric”
0‑1Founders form; multisig BTC treasury onlineGenesis Block
2K‑2 opens; Lightning snack‑shop liveFirst Sats
3Strength lab & darkroom finished; open‑source zine #1Max Dose
4Middle school launches DAO governanceQuorum Online
5First high‑school cohort; Bitcoin node tower sparks media buzzHashrate Rising

Final War‑Cry ⚡️

Eric Kim’s credo—destroy assumptions, publish openly, lift heavy, live lightly—is education’s adrenaline shot.  Build this school and you don’t just graduate students; you release fearless, minimalist creators who own their bodies, their ideas, and their money.  Let’s rack‑pull the future—together.