Those of us who have either completed, or are currently in the final years of, our formal education will know the feeling one has after finishing an exam in a subject one will no longer be studying. Rarely, in that moment of youthful exuberance, does joy swell at the realisation of “How much I have learnt!”. Rather, the sentiment of the day is “I am so happy that I never have to know any of this again!”. A significant number of students—both at my school and university—manifested their excitement with a ritual burning of all relevant papers, notebooks and other materials.

People occasionally ask why Studio Education has decided to employ a focus on STEAM, as opposed to STEM. Whatever could that errant A represent, people wonder.  Art, of course.  And such an answer is of course followed with a question of some sort, related to the apparent lack of connection between Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Art.  

Communication is at the centre of all human activity. Companies persuade customers to buy their products. Recent graduates pitch themselves in job interviews. And it’s not just verbal communication, but also written communication. Students write to define themselves in college admission essays. Communication is an essential human skill.

When we first set up the Junior English Program, one of the most important things we agreed on was that the classes should be small and have a high ratio of teachers to children. That’s why in every Junior English class, we have a maximum group size of 8, with a lead teacher and an assistant teacher, ensuring a maximum 4:1 ratio. One of the main reasons for this was that we wanted to guarantee a one-on-one reading session with every child, every week.