Philosophy

The power of questioning.

Why do we need a new school? The world has completely changed over the past 10-20 years. And there is no slowing down in sight. In our world, knowledge has become virtually accessible to everyone, from everywhere, at any time. Learning by memorization is no longer a sustainable or useful method. The conventional school system provides too many standardized answers and asks too few critical questions. And in the process, the art and the skill of thinking critically, analytically, and autonomously has been almost completely lost! Questions - not learned answers - are the basis of innovation, invention, discovery and also happiness.

Philosophy as a foundation for life.

Philosophy is often misunderstood or forgotten. But let's not forget that virtually every field of modern-day science, always started as philosophy. Only once it became tangible, measurable and clear, it got its own name - like biology, astronomy, chemistry, physics etc. Therefore, everything actually started as pure philosophy.

In what ways can philosophy help to build a foundation for education and for life? Why do questions like the meaning of life, fulfillment in one's profession or finding one's destiny, become more and more relevant in our lives? Because every change, evolution, innovation or decision always begins with a question.

A categorical injustice?

The idea that children should be "taught" already implies that they cannot learn own their own account - at least not the things that we adults believe they should know. And if then we decide across the board exactly what should be learned, even how this content should be learned, we run into problems. Such a system may potentially be a perfect match for some children, but it will certainly not do justice to the majority of them. But if now we expect them all to not only adopt this method, but even to master it, you can see why this is unfair and will not fulfill its purpose.

Individual opportunity, rather than categorical injustice, is what we envision. This requires flexible, adaptable and innovative structures; less pressure and intervention, more relationship and trust.

Individualize or standardize?

School as we know it today is still largely based on the model that emerged after the industrial revolution. The majority of today's school system is still geared towards normalisation instead of individualisation. The whole learning process is standardised and then we are surprised that only an absolute minority is really happy. That is why we are doing things differently and are convinced that our new model is child-friendly, family-friendly and fit for the future!

Digitalization and school.

Because quite apart from that... shouldn't school prepare children for life instead of merely selecting children for further school careers? How many "academics" leave school with a wealth of theoretical knowledge and two left hands? And I am not saying this in a derogatory way, but from my own direct experience. Theoretical knowledge may often be an important basis, but knowledge only becomes valuable when you know how to apply it.

Nowadays, digitalization enables us to embark on completely new ways and allows us to individualize almost the entire learning process. However, schools must evolve, in order to take advantage of these benefits. In the past, school was the source of knowledge - where else could you acquire knowledge in a wide variety of fields so quickly and in such a compressed form? Today, the school should embrace its new central role as a community, building bridges to reality, and instead of teaching, enabling and facilitating learning. School has shifted away from being the source of knowledge. Knowledge is available to virtually everyone, everywhere, right at our fingertips.

Mental flexibility.

This is part of the reason why it is so important to us that our little philosophers - our children - are allowed to grow up as such. In this new kind of school they are taken seriously and are allowed and encouraged to pursue their goals and what fulfills them. In order to do so, we need abandon this idea that it is us who need to prescribe exactly what children need to learn, when they need to learn it, and how they need to learn it.

We must dare to empower children to find their own way - instead of trying to impose our prejudiced and biased ideals on them. Those who dare to ask, to understand, to learn, remain mentally flexible and use the new possibilities to their advantage, instead of mourning the old times.

However, we do not believe that unconditional freedom is always the right way. We also set rules and limits, motivate where helpful and intervene where necessary. We encourage and challenge, but always make sure not to overtax.

Learning for children is like water for a plant. Without it, it dies, too much at once and it drowns... the right measure makes it grow and flourish!

AI and the future of jobs.

Our world often changes faster than our ability to adapt. A lot needs to change, especially when we look at the school system. Our modern technology is here to stay - no matter how happy or sad this makes us.

"We've always done it this way" or "time has proven this to work" are dangerous beliefs in this rapidly evolving world. The majority of jobs as we know them will disappear in a very near future. We will gradually be replaced by machines and AI. But this doesn't mean we should prepare for the apocalypse... it just means we need to rethink, take different paths, and let creativity take its course. Our entire work model is being redefined. So let's keep in mind: We cannot think in old patterns and create a new future.

A new school.

Ask yourself, what can the children of today achieve if they never lose their innate curiosity and the joy of learning... if they keep their natural ease, their intrinsic motivation and the natural drive to ask questions throughout their life, even as adults? That's exactly why we need to rethink the school system. That's exactly why we need to accept and familiarize ourselves with this new world of possibilities, so we can all benefit from it instead of trying to fight it. That's exactly why today we have unprecedented, revolutionary possibilities at our disposal, to create child-oriented and personalized educational paths. But to succeed, we need to take new, unknown paths. At the same time we need to stay open-minded and flexible and dare to keep on asking.

Inspiration and role models.

As an innovative school we too are in a constant state of change. We owe many of our ideas to our community, to our creative and committed team, and to our role models. These include Dr. Remo Largo, Sir Ken Robinson, Richard David Precht, Carol Dweck, Gordon Dryer, Dr. Jeannette Vos and many other courageous philosophers, thinkers and doers from the present and the past. We are extremely grateful to be able to benefit from such a profound treasure of ideas, concepts and already successfully applied methods, techniques and structures.

School of Tomorrow is not meant to be just an idealistic contrast to the classical school system. Neither is it meant to be the answer to all school related problems. Rather, we see ourselves as a possible solution that redefines how education meets the future. We are child-friendly and family-friendly, and our unique ability to adapt the experience and the learning path to each and every child, will help to promote learning and support them in their individual development, without sacrificing structure or leaving it all up to chance. Quite the contrary! Thanks to our method we can ensure that each individual child will have the needed personalized attention to truly fulfill their potential.