Anakrasia

The word “anakrasia” does not exist in the English dictionary. Anakrasia stems from a combination of the Greek prefix “an” (not) and the Greek term “akrasia” (weakness of will). Broadly, our approach emphasizes the importance of hard work and diligence over “innate talent.” Rather than encouraging students to take the easiest route possible to a short-term goal, we focus on long-term ethic and the application of self to ventures that are challenging but also inherently rewarding. In a sense, the Anakrasia Education’s name itself reflects the spirit of the endeavor—in face of linguistic limitations, we crafted a new word to express our ethos.    

Conceptual Knowledge

Our approach of anakrasia applies to the individual session level as well. An increasingly common trend amongst high schools is that teachers impart content without emphasizing the deeper meaning or conceptual significance. Combined with certain classes where rigid approaches to a question must be followed, students are left with little direction in terms of why a concept makes sense or the logic behind the solution steps. In order to emphasize conceptual knowledge (i.e., not accepting akrasia, the easy way out), we incorporate a top-down learning approach: concepts are explained broadly (and interrelated with other relevant topics) first, then filled in on a problem set level.

Process-Driven

In modern society, there is a predilection toward immediate gratification. Learning, by contrast, is not inherently immediately gratifying—yet we hope that the process of continual learning will be one that students come to eventually enjoy. We notice that as students face mounting pressure from multiple classes and extracurriculars intended to improve their college application profile, they often lose sight of why they started in the first place. We hope to help students rediscover the reward of the learning process itself. By investing the necessary effort and focusing on the process, students will achieve desirable outcomes and enjoy the journey along the way.

Vision-Oriened

We are process-driven and vision-oriented. Contrary to other schools of thought that promote step-driven and goal-oriented methods in isolation—an approach we feel is rigid and short-sighted—we prefer to focus on the broader 10-year vision and the processes we employ to continually move in that direction. This philosophy, notably, applies both at a company-level and for the students themselves. Where do our students want to be in 10 years? How will they be as independent thinkers and contributing members to society? In what ways can students take a proactive role in their lives to build foundations in logic, reasoning, and work ethic to shape their future?

These are all questions we hope to answer at Anakrasia Education.