In Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why, he says that all businesses can tell you what they do and most can tell you how they do it, but what so many are lacking (to their detriment) is the ability to tell you why they do what they do.  This typically leads to uninspired customers who are left to evaluate commodities based on price or other perks or add-ons.

I have noticed a similar situation in the realm of education.  Parents shop around for the best education option for their children, hoping to guarantee a path to “success” by the time they leave home.  They evaluate state schools vs. private vs. hybrid vs. online vs. Montessori vs. IB vs. a million other models.  After all the searching and reading and comparing, the options start looking vaguely the same.  An 8:00-3:00ish school day with some variation of standard curriculum, presented by a teacher.  “School” becomes a commodity just like any other and we are forced to make choices based on various “perks” or “add-ons” such as extra-curricular offerings, an emphasis on the arts or STEM, tuition discounts, exam scores, or university acceptance rates.

No matter the WHAT and HOW we choose for our child’s education, it is important as parents to communicate to our children (and understand for ourselves) WHY we have chosen a particular educational path.  How many of us look back to countless classes and hours of study and think, why in the world did I think I had to take that course?  When will I ever use that?  Only to realize we were right.  We will NEVER use it.  Let’s strive to give our kids a better answer.

Most educational WHYs I hear are passive.  “I attended a state school and I turned out ok so it’s good enough for my kid.”  This is AN answer, but not a great one if we are trying to communicate what our child’s education is actually for. It may lead our frustrated children to ask a lot of the same questions we asked ourselves about our own education.

Some WHYs are reactive.  There are parents who choose to send their children to private school or to home educate  because they are “fed up with the school system”,  or “to protect them” from things like school violence, bullies, political propaganda, etc.  These WHYs are reactive to current society and culture, but lack specificity regarding individual children and their personal needs and desires. 

I encourage you to make your educational WHY proactive.  Maybe even inspiring.  A strong WHY in business creates a culture of loyal customers.  A strong and inspiring WHY for our education choice will foster a culture of children who love learning, which I suppose is the ultimate WHY of any educational endeavor.

Here’s our family’s vision for education (our WHY is the first sentence):

The goal of education is for our children to develop into adults who are both privately happy and publicly responsible.  We believe that all children are created in the image of God for a unique purpose and have been designed with unique interests and desires to fulfill that purpose.  To that end, we will strive to develop critical and curious thinkers, effective communicators, diligent workers, and instill a sense of wonder by providing unique and real-life learning experiences where our children can flourish in their God-given talents and gifts which we pray would be used for God’s glory, and for the benefit of others.

Based on our WHY, the bulk of our learning throughout the year is specifically geared toward the interests of each of our children. WHAT they learn, is the result of WHY they learn it. I believe that when my children are affirmed as the unique beings they are, and encouraged to learn the things they are most interested in, it fosters a deep love of learning that will continue throughout their entire lives.

At any time, my children have permission to question why they are learning a particular lesson. When the bulk of my educational WHY is answered “because I want you to be happy,” it goes a long way in building trust with my children when my answer needs to be “because I want you to learn to live responsibly in this society.” 

If you are interested in reading our complete educational mission and vision, you can download it here.

Not sure how to create your WHY?  You can begin by googling educational organizations and reading their mission.  Interestingly, you will often have to infer a WHY based on the WHAT of their mission. You may strongly agree or disagree with an organization’s WHY, but it will get you thinking, either way. 

For example:  Khan Academy‘s (an online learning platform) mission is “To provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.”  Their WHY?  All children, all over the world deserve a world-class education.  

IDEA public school‘s mission is simply: “Free.  Focused on college.  For all children.” Their WHY?  Every child deserves an equal opportunity at a university education.  

Pathfinder Durham’s mission and clear “why”: “We believe that education is the sum of everything a person learns that enables that person to live a satisfying and meaningful life, and that people come into the world equipped with everything they need to educate themselves” (also the “why” for the Alliance for Self-Directed Education).

Summerhill School’s aim is “to allow children to grow naturally, to experience personal freedom, to play and develop at their own pace and to go in their own direction whilst taking responsibility for their own actions and the community around them.”

Consider this:

What is your family’s WHY for your educational choices for your children? 

Do your children know that their happiness is something that you deeply value in their learning? Is it something that you value in their learning?

When a child asks why they have to learn something, what is typically your answer?

How are your educational choices for your children building or betraying trust between you and them?

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