“Dare to dream the impossible. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”
Eleanor Roosevelt
ZANE’S EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY
Arguably every business operating in education and online learning should develop, establish and base their business operations on their own individual education philosophy. It is that education philosophy that helps provide the motivation and committment to succeed and achieve the goals they have set themselves.their own education philosophy.
At Zane we have the education philosophy and belief that each child is an individual with their own natural skills and talents, and that those skills and talents should be identified as an important part of their education. Our education philosphy also believes that by encouraging the development of those skills and talents, we play an important part in enabling each young person to achieve their greatest individual potential.
Our education philosophy also recognises that the education of our children is as much the responsibility of the parent, as it is the teacher in the classroom. Academic knowledge learned in the classroom must be developed upon a foundation of the social emotional and life skills and values encouraged by parents, if future generations of students are to lead happy, fulfilled and rewarding adult lives.
Success motivates Zane’s education philosophy
Zane recognises the importance of understanding that each child and student is an individual and should be educated as such. Our education philosophy leads us to believe that if we are to achieve that goal, then we can no longer rely on a 250 year old system of education that attempts to mass-produce learning. If we intend to truly innovate education in the 21st Century, this is where we must begin.
The needs and requirements of the 21st Century have well outgrown a factory-style approach to learning. The value we bring to our children and future generations, will depend on how we can adapt to the learning needs and abilities of the young person today.
As parents, we share a desire to see our children become successful, however that outcome is largely determined by how we each measure success, and what we consider success to be. As our childrens primary and most important role models, we have an enormous responsibility.
Calling for change, devoting the resources to enabling that change, envisaging how that change should be shaped and implemented, is the territory of the visionary and the brave. Yet education is one of the most conservative fields. It is a field where few are prepared to take risk, and one where copious research is demanded first to justify any potential change. Zane’s education philosophy prepares us to meet that challenge.
True innovation has never come without some degree of risk. Ex-President Jimmy Carter once stated “Go out on a limb …… for that is where the fruit is”. But change we must for fear that we continue to make so many of the mistakes we have made in the past.
14 Reasons for Zane’s Education Philosophy:
- All children are born with natural skills and talents unique to them that should be identified and developed.
- Today’s system of education mass-produces learning and fails to enable the individual to achieve their great individual potential.
- Children need to be encouraged to understand that who they are is more important than what they own.
- Education needs a greater focus on the development of life skills, thinking and self-motivation rather than simply academic knowledge.
- Natural talent, life skills, personality type, and real world knowledge should play a role alongside academic knowledge in college and career choice.
- How we seek to improve education should reflect actual problems we experienced ourselves at school, rather than just a reliance on technology.
- Developing the ability to think, analytical and problem-solving skills will stimulate greater creativity and innovation rather than relying on memorizing academic facts.
- Academic curriculum learning must include the practical knowledge every student needs to address real-life situations they will encounter in their daily lives as adults. Knowledge they can relate to, rather than that which many will seldom use.
- Testing for the sake of testing marginalizes many students that do not flourish under pressure of being tested simply for the sake of it.
- Parents should never see a place of learning as magical way of absolving them of their parental responsibilities as the most important teachers in a child’s life.
- Colleges and universities should be less focused on their activities as profit-making businesses and more on employing teaching staff with real-world experience of the subjects they are teaching, rather than simply the theoretical.
- Career guidance should play an essential curriculum role in schools rather than a supplemental activity.
- Special Needs Education must focus more on identifying and developing the capabilities of the individual student, rather than the diagnosis and theoretical causes of their perceived and often misunderstood limitations.
- The cost of higher education and vocational learning should be shared with those that that will benefit from the rewards.
