What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated
In today’s educational climate, the approach to education at Hundred Hills School might feel countercultural to some. This is because the typical early childhood classroom has increasingly become a place of early academics, structured instruction, measurable outcomes, and assessment. Children are often introduced to literacy drills, worksheets, and testing at ages when their bodies and brains are still developing and asking for movement, imagination, and play. In many ways, education has become centered on filling a child’s mind with information. While knowledge can certainly lead us toward meaningful careers or intellectual accomplishment, it does not necessarily lead us toward feeling whole, grounded, or at peace with who we are in the world. To be well educated is not only to know but to be connected. Connected to oneself, to others, and to life. This is where the education at Hundred Hills offers a different lens.
When the foundation of education rests on what children truly need at each developmental stage, education becomes inherently holistic. It no longer asks, “What information should we pour into this child?” but instead, “What capacities are unfolding in this child right now, and how do we nourish them?” At Hundred Hills School, we approach learning from this developmental perspective. Our aim is to educate the whole child by developing the intellect, social, artistic, and practical life skills, while building moral capacities. I believe that we all recognize that growth unfolds in a sequence, and that each stage of a child’s development builds upon the previous one. Just as we cannot force a child to skip their early years in an attempt to accelerate their maturity, we also cannot rush teething, walking, or speaking without consequences. The same is true for education. If we attempt to prematurely introduce a child to abstract academics before foundational capacities are established, we risk weakening the roots that support their long-term growth. At Hundred Hills, we understand that the early childhood years are the roots, and the roots must be protected, nourished, and nurtured.
Imagine planting a seed in your garden that will take 21 years before bearing fruit. You would not force the seedling to grow faster. You would not demand it to blossom before the roots were secure. Instead, you would prepare rich soil, provide water and sunlight, and protect it from harsh conditions. In the early stages of growth, we know that plants do not bear fruit and that they need nourishment. Just as the early childhood years are a time to nurture the roots, not harvest fruit.
Young children do not benefit from accelerated academics; what they need are rich sensory experiences. They need movement, rhythm, warmth, and lots of time to play. The early childhood years are about root development, and when roots are strong, healthy growth naturally follows. When roots are pushed, later learning becomes fragile.
Our educational lens at Hundred Hills recognizes that we are not only preparing children for academic success, but truly for life.
In many early childhood settings, playtime has diminished. Free exploration has been replaced by structured lessons. The day has been segmented by tasks, outcomes, and assessments.
While these approaches may produce early measurable academic skills, they often leave little room for the imagination, self-discovery, or the deep sensory experiences that young children need.
When education becomes primarily about cognitive performance, it risks overlooking the child’s physical, emotional, and social development. Without these foundations, intellectual learning becomes disconnected. Children may know information but struggle with resilience, creativity, or inner grounding, which are important capabilities necessary for life. Knowledge alone does not create wholeness, joy, or contentment within oneself.
An education that educates the whole person understands that human beings develop in stages and that each stage asks for a different kind of nurturing and needs different nourishment. This is why we begin with grounding the roots through an education that focuses on each child’s physical development, on sensory integration and imaginative play, as well as social skills and emotional regulation. Beginning with first grade, academic instruction slowly increases but always in harmony with artistic expression, moral exploration, and experiential learning. Our approach recognizes that education is not about pouring information into children; it is about cultivating each child’s inner capacities.
To be well educated means educating the whole human being: the intellect for the purpose of thinking clearly, the heart for feeling deeply. The hands for acting purposefully, and a strong moral sense to be able to discern right from wrong. The purpose of education is not to solely prepare children for exams or careers. It is to prepare them for life, for a purpose-driven, joyful life. A truly well-educated person is someone who feels grounded in themselves, can think independently, engages creatively with challenges, connects empathetically with others, acts with moral integrity, and continues learning throughout life.
True education is much more than how much information a child can learn; it is first about how deeply they are connected to themselves, to others, and to the world. Research increasingly tells us that a lack of connection with ourselves not only makes it difficult to learn but also makes it difficult to connect with others. When a child is disconnected from their body, they will struggle with others. When they are disconnected from their emotions, they may struggle socially. When a child is disconnected from their inner world, they will struggle to find purpose, perhaps even inner contentment. To be well educated means that one’s education has cultivated this inner connection, has helped a child feel grounded in their body, secure in their relationships, and that their imagination has been nourished. Then they will be able to engage with academic learning when the time is developmentally right. This is how we care for the roots. When a child’s roots have been nurtured and nourished, the fruit of their formative years will come in its own time, and it will give them the foundation for a life of wisdom. To be well educated is to be fully human: to feel at home in the body, to feel connected to our inner life, to think our own thoughts clearly, and to be able to act with purpose while directing our own life. This is the fruit that becomes the result of one's journey in life.
By Chinyelu Kunz
Joint Head of School