Why We Do This
When training with Teach For America, an overarching concern was stopping what is called “The School to Prison Pipeline” – the institutional nature of schools that increase the probability of at-risk youth to become incarcerated as adults. There is another aspect of this institutional nature of schools that I noticed to be “The School to Cubicle Pipeline” – the 80% of children not defined as at risk that are trained to be little more than worker bees for their careers. This pressure to take The Road Most Traveled often involves incurring large amounts of student loan debt and working desk job after desk job to maintain a mediocre level of satisfaction and happiness for an entire working life.
I do not want my daughter sucked into either of those pipelines.
We cannot unsee what we all saw as a nation from 2020-2021 as we looked over our children’s shoulders at their online classes or even saw the news about what was happening to children in schools all over the nation in what may be a generational learning loss for America. The conventional education system that has been teaching the same curriculum in the same Prussian manner for over 150 years needed to undergo radical changes. Many parents were asking, “Is this what school should be in the 21st Century?” Unfortunately, the vast majority of schools have done the opposite and have gone back to their normal pipelines.
Fortunately, there seemed to be an explosion of school alternatives that parents could seek out and even permanently enroll their children. Educational entrepreneurship was unleashed as educators suddenly had their own pandemic pods or microschools with their neighbors’ children. We see now that this was not a temporary fad to merely hold students over until school went “back to normal.” Many parents and students did not want to go back to “normal” and the Concentric Learning Center is for students and parents that want something better.
It is this ethos of “unleashing” that Concentric wants to take to the next level. We want to unleash parental choice of any curriculum they feel is best for their child. We want to unleash the instructors to do what is best for students by trusting them to be the experienced professionals they are. And this will unleash the potential of your child to thrive in the adult world of the 21st Century.
I do not want my daughter sucked into either of those pipelines.
We cannot unsee what we all saw as a nation from 2020-2021 as we looked over our children’s shoulders at their online classes or even saw the news about what was happening to children in schools all over the nation in what may be a generational learning loss for America. The conventional education system that has been teaching the same curriculum in the same Prussian manner for over 150 years needed to undergo radical changes. Many parents were asking, “Is this what school should be in the 21st Century?” Unfortunately, the vast majority of schools have done the opposite and have gone back to their normal pipelines.
Fortunately, there seemed to be an explosion of school alternatives that parents could seek out and even permanently enroll their children. Educational entrepreneurship was unleashed as educators suddenly had their own pandemic pods or microschools with their neighbors’ children. We see now that this was not a temporary fad to merely hold students over until school went “back to normal.” Many parents and students did not want to go back to “normal” and the Concentric Learning Center is for students and parents that want something better.
It is this ethos of “unleashing” that Concentric wants to take to the next level. We want to unleash parental choice of any curriculum they feel is best for their child. We want to unleash the instructors to do what is best for students by trusting them to be the experienced professionals they are. And this will unleash the potential of your child to thrive in the adult world of the 21st Century.
Director's Note: Why I Do This
With my daughter born in October of 2021, I wanted to find the best education that I could for her. One that taught her Marketable Skills so she could find a full-time job when she was 18 and at the same time that education would form her into an adult with Academic content and cultural knowledge necessary to be accepted to the best college if she chose to do that instead at age 18… only to find this combination didn’t really exist. It would have to be created for her. And if we are creating it, let’s make sure that it is learner-driven with a lot of opportunity to make friends and have fun because 75% of students had negative feelings about high school before the pandemic!
I have had a variety of experiences as an educator over the past decade from teaching in a learner-driven environment to working with students on team projects to fostering individual student achievement. I have spent most of this time teaching high school math – the subject students often need the most help in. As a student, I excelled academically taking college-level courses and graduating a year early at age 20. I went to the NYU Stern School of Business and worked in sales and account management and strategy in the private sector before finally answering my calling to be an Educator.
I believe that my unique set of experiences has given me the ideal background to craft an excellent, versatile, and effective education for not only my child, but for your child too.
Even though I have a varied background and a lot of ideas, I am here to listen, listen, listen. There needs to be a lot more than just my philosophies to make Concentric Learning Center the best it can be. I need parents, students, and other instructors to create alongside me.
Please schedule a convenient time to get in touch:
https://calendly.com/matthew-c-horan/concentric-info
I have had a variety of experiences as an educator over the past decade from teaching in a learner-driven environment to working with students on team projects to fostering individual student achievement. I have spent most of this time teaching high school math – the subject students often need the most help in. As a student, I excelled academically taking college-level courses and graduating a year early at age 20. I went to the NYU Stern School of Business and worked in sales and account management and strategy in the private sector before finally answering my calling to be an Educator.
I believe that my unique set of experiences has given me the ideal background to craft an excellent, versatile, and effective education for not only my child, but for your child too.
Even though I have a varied background and a lot of ideas, I am here to listen, listen, listen. There needs to be a lot more than just my philosophies to make Concentric Learning Center the best it can be. I need parents, students, and other instructors to create alongside me.
Please schedule a convenient time to get in touch:
https://calendly.com/matthew-c-horan/concentric-info