What makes a school excellent?

MANILA, Philippines - Many day care centers and preschools have mushroomed in recent years, all of them claiming to give children the best education they could ever have. However, parents often find themselves disappointed over the outcome of their child’s learning; some even doubt if there was any at all. Tuition fees increase but academic competitiveness as well as moral values drop. What could be wrong?

Most schools use curriculums based on humanistic principles: often the center is the person. The concept of humanism tends to exalt the self, the “I” who must be pleased. Today, most young children are trained the way they want their lives to go. Thus, the pursuit of godliness is somehow discarded or taken for granted.

Over the years, educators around the world sought to discover and create techniques that will advance the education system. In the early 1970s, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Howard of Greensboro, USA founded Accelerated Christian Education (now also known as the School of Tomorrow System). The ACE or SOT system has been proven through the years to be an effective curriculum that prioritizes character-building while upholding academic excellence. ACE now serves over 7,000 schools in almost 140 countries, including the Philippines.

After more than 10 years of campus ministry, Sibikong Kabataang Taga-Tondo (SIKATT) Inc. realized the need to help children not just on the three major academic subjects of Math, Science and English but also in building their character. Thus, SIKATT formed its education arm, HEAD, HEART and HANDS LEARNING CENTER (3H) to provide individualized and biblical-based curriculum. 3H utilizes the SOT system.

What makes this system distinctive and effective?

BIBLICAL. Each academic area is studied from the Bible’s viewpoint: Math as principles of God’s order; Language as God’s gift to communicate to Him and to others; Social Studies as God’s sovereignty over all history; and Science as God’s design in creation.

CHARACTER-BASED. Honesty, kindness, loyalty and 57 other character traits are taught within the curriculum to develop students’ interpersonal relationships.

INDIVIDUALIZED. Each student entering the ACE program is given diagnostic tests to determine skill and concept mastery, and he is prescribed a curriculum at his performance level. Students work in individual offices to promote maximum concentration and minimize distractions.

MASTERY-BASED. Academics and methodology which are based on physiological development patterns and Biblical principles, provides mastery learning, critical analysis, conceptualization, cognitive reasoning, and life from God’s perspective.

So what makes a school excellent? The foundation behind it! 3H is established on sound scriptural teachings that will assure not just academic excellence but more importantly, character development.