What is Education?  

Education is not about what is taught… It is about what is learned.  And the evidence of learning is when a student takes action on what they’ve learned. In other words, unless your teaching makes a difference in the student’s future, the efforts made in teaching are a total waste of time—for the student, the teacher, the parents, and everyone else involved, it’s a total waste of time! I remember once hearing from my mentor, David Keirsey, that in his observations, far too many teachers were interested in teaching over learning.  What’s the difference?  

01/  He observed that far too many educators were far more interested in teaching what they know, than in whether their students were actually learning—(and this includes, subject matter experts, professors, preachers, motivational speakers, grade school teachers, and so on).  He termed it, “mindsturbation”—(aka: ‘narcissism’), when he saw educators finding more gratification in the sound of their own voice or the profundity of their insights rather than the difference they were making in a learner.

02/  He also observed that some educators were more interested in mindlessly teaching what they were “required” to teach, than about giving consideration to whether what they were teaching was actually useful.  The relevant term here is “stupidifcation”—where sophistication is projected onto stupidity. To put it simply, they made stupid ideas sound very sophisticated. And when we blindly allow a whole generation of students to keep following along and digest stupidity, it is stupid.  At Conrad Academy, we have two imperatives to bring teaching and learning together.

Imperative #1:  FUN

I believe that when students are not interested, it’s because the teacher is not interesting. Learning should be fun. If it’s not fun, it’s stupid. At Conrad Academy, we believe that everything taught must be done in a way that is fun, because when it’s fun, it’s interesting, and when it’s interesting, people learn. And when students learn, they make an impact. 

Outside of being the Principal of Conrad Academy, I serve as the CEO @ Keirsey, a human behavior research company. Alongside 10,000+ colleagues of mine, we “teach” for a living. And what I can tell you is that adults only engage when a “teacher” is fun.  Only teachers who are fun and exciting are listened to. Those that are boring, never create any kind of following. And yet, we reprimand students for complaining that a teacher is boring. 

As CEO, firstly, I would never hire anyone that’s boring. I would never allow anyone to represent our brand that’s boring.  Learning must be fun!

Imperative #2:  COMMON SENSE

I believe that education should also be about common sense. What is common sense?  I see common sense as the ability to make sound judgments and decisions based on everyday experiences and observations. It is practical wisdom using logic, intuition, and practicality to navigate the world around us. Common sense helps individuals make wise decisions, solve problems, and interact effectively with others.

I believe that to embrace common sense that one must learn what to reject and what to embrace.  Earlier I conveyed firstly, my rejection of boredom, and my welcoming of fun.  As CEO, secondly, I embrace that which is useful and reject what is useless. As adults, we only listen to “teaching” that is useful. if it’s useless, we turn the other way.  And we should expect no less from our students.

The Conrad Academy is not an institution, it is an educational philosophy that aims to tie together what is taught and what is learned so that success in the future is a natural and inevitable outcome of a great education.

By Edward Oh Kim
Principal of the Conrad Academy
(aka Conrad’s Dad)