What We Believe

Who they are is more important than what they know.

An adolescent’s mental, emotional, physical well-being and character are more important than their ability to recite Shakespeare or the Pythagorean Theorem. We will never make adolescents feel more or less valuable based on their knowledge or skills. We want adolescents to know that they are created by God to know Him and reflect His character which makes them infinitely valuable aside from any knowledge or skills they may acquire.

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Young people want to learn.

God made humans naturally curious. Rather than trying to motivate young people to learn things they may not want to learn, we support their God-given drive to learn and grow by beginning with their interests, strengths, and gifts and using that as a launching pad for deep and wide learning. We also help adolescents overcome any obstacles that have gotten in the way of their motivation to learn whether internal or external.

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Learning happens everywhere.

People learn all the time and in all kinds of places. It doesn’t have to look like school or feel like school to be valuable, and it’s not necessary to make distinctions between “schoolwork” and “your own hobbies” or “for credit” and “not for credit.”

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It really is OK to leave conventional school.

Many young people who are not happy in school – academically or socially – stay because they believe that leaving school will rule out (or at least diminish) the possibility of a successful future. We believe that young people can achieve a meaningful and successful adulthood without going to school. It is possible and it is happening for thousands of adolescents in self-directed learning centers across the country.

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Structure communicates as powerfully as words—often more powerfully.

It’s not enough to tell kids that we want them to be self motivated, or that we want them to value learning for its own sake, if the structure of their lives and their education is actually communicating the opposite message. Voluntary (rather than compulsory) classes, the ability to choose what one studies rather than following a required curriculum, and the absence of tests and grades all contribute to a structure that supports and facilitates intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning.

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The best preparation for a meaningful and productive future is a meaningful and productive present.

Too often, education is thought of in terms of preparation: “Do this now, even if it doesn’t feel connected to your most pressing interests and concerns, because later on you’ll find it useful.” We believe that helping adolescents figure out what seems interesting and worth doing right now, in their current lives, is also the best way to help them develop self-knowledge and experience at figuring out what kind of life they want and what they need to do or learn in order to create that life. In other words, it’s the best preparation for their futures.

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Belief statements inspired by and adapted with permission from North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens