Beats co-founders Andre “Dr. Dre” Young and Jimmy Iovine, both of whom previously held high profile roles at Apple, are working to transform a public high school to welcome pupils who feel “disconnected from, [or] unmotivated by, the typical school experience.”
The public high school will supposedly mirror the format of the USC’s Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, which they donated $70 million to start in 2013. The USC academy has since expanded due to its popularity. Some graduates have even gone on to work at Apple.
The LA Times notes that the two Beats entrepeneurs have selected Audubon Middle School in a low income area of Los Angeles for their initiative. The newspaper notes that “steep enrollment declines have left the Leimert Park campus at less than a third of capacity. [Student at the school] are struggling academically — just 5% are at grade level in math.”
Iovine and Dre will invest an unspecified amount to revitalize the school. “We’re here strictly for the kids and trying to give them a future and something promising that maybe wasn’t available before,” said Dr. Dre in a conference with education leaders this week. The high school will receive a new name, although this has yet to be announced. Students will be able to enroll from fall 2022.
The report continues that:
“The new project is not a music school, but intended as an incubator of entrepreneurial and silo-busting talent, where students will learn to work in teams to address real-world challenges. A university-level prototype exists at USC, where students have tackled projects presented to them by medical centers, private companies and, for example, the Grammy Foundation — a tie-in with music that is not elemental to the student experience.”
Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine transform education
Dre and Iovine joined Apple as part of its $3 billion acquisition of Beats in 2013. Neither of them seems to have much involvement with the company today. Dr. Dre, for his part, released an exclusive album for Apple Music. He also developed a biographical show for Apple TV+, although it appears to have been ditched. Iovine played a higher profile role in Apple for a while. He was the first head of Apple Music Worldwide. Rumors popped up at the beginning of 2018 that Iovine was on his way out. While he denied these rumors, he was officially replaced by Apple veteran Oliver Schusser in the role in April 2018. Iovine is now an Apple consultant.
Good for both of them, however. Having made a fortune selling their company to Apple, they’re now able to focus on doing what they want. The likes of marketing guru Scott Galloway has long recommended that Apple use its force for good mantra to transform education. It seems that Dre and Iovine are trying to do exactly that.
Source: LA Times
