by Kevin Cody
Vasudev “Dev” Shah grew up in Bombay, India. At 19, he received a scholarship to attend Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He received his doctorate in mathematics and computer sciences at the University of California, Riverside.
Shah currently oversees a $200 million website division of Amazon.
He is running for one of two open seats on the Hermosa Beach School Board, he said, because of concerns his third and fifth grade daughters’ educations are not preparing them for the future workplace.
“Hermosa schools are good at preparing kids for today’s economy. But not even the best private schools are ready for tomorrow’s economy,” he said.
It’s not the district’s math and science programs the tech industry manager feels are deficient.
It’s the district’s secondary emphasis on music and the visual and performing arts that concern him.
“Academic excellence in math and science will not be enough to compete in the future economy. We need to foster creativity,” he said.
The reason, he said, is Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“Social media was the last big change in communications.
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next big change. Humans will be competing with robots.”
Amazon, Tesla, Nvidia and other large companies are heavily investing in robots, he noted.
“There will be no Uber drivers when we have self driving cars. But AI will never replace human judgment. What differentiates humans from robots is creativity,” he said.
Smartphones make rote learning less important than learning why things happen, Shah said.
This fall, Eton College (for students 13 to 18) in England, whose tuition is $70,000 annually, banned smartphones on campus, and issued its students Nokia flip phones, (which the students call “bricks”).
Shah said he favors requiring Hermosa students to keep their smartphones on campus in district-issued Yondr lock bags.
The purpose is to “balance technology use and free play,” he said.
Shah attended what he described as a yoga school during his first 12 years of schooling in Bombay. His school days began with two hours of soccer, followed by studying yoga texts written in Sanskrit, and then contemplation. Shah speaks five languages.
He’s not advocating students spend hours in contemplation, but he does propose students practice yoga. He contends yoga fosters self-awareness and emotional resiliency.
He also wants Hermosa schools to put renewed emphasis on honors programs, which parents asked for in a recent district survey.
“We think standardization is the only way to scale. That concept needs to be challenged. Identifying students’ strengths is more efficient because the kids become interested, freeing teachers to give extra help to those who need it,” he said.
“New York City has ended all honors programs in the name of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). It’s happening across the country. This is not what we stand for. As much as we need to help kids who need extra help, we can’t create a culture where we take away opportunities for kids who have a passion.
“We need to make decisions aligned with our values. We need to bring back honors programs that were canceled,” he said.
Shah acknowledged his proposals will require more school funding, as much as $2,000 per student annually, he estimated. Hermosa currently spends approximately $15,000 per student annually, according to Ed-Data.org.
Finance may be the area he makes his biggest contribution to the district, he said. If elected he would be the only board member with a business background.
Before joining Amazon he worked in finance management at Disney, 20th Century Studios and Bear Stearns. He presently serves as grants director for the Hermosa Education Foundation.
The Education Foundation raised $1.5 million, and contributed $1.2 million to the school district this year. The balance went to an escrow account. Approximately half of the HBEF funds come from parents, and half from grants and corporate donors.
Many parents don’t donate. He thinks the reason is, in part, because they believe the State provides adequate funding.
In fact, he said, “All South Bay schools have funding deficits.”
As a school board member, Shah said, he hopes to educate parents about the district’s funding shortfalls. He also plans to be deeply involved in budget allocations.
He’s not concerned, he said, about pushback against his ideas from either parents or teachers who favor traditional, rote education.
“My whole life, I’ve been told I can’t do this, or do that. If I had listened I would have never come to this country. Life is about breaking down walls,” he said. ER
