Values, Beliefs, and the 5IN Mission
5IN’s Values
In addition to the 5 fundamental INs which encapsulate our main values, there are a number of ideals which we hold as our guide in educating students and operating as an organization. These include:
Respect - Respect for others, for the surroundings in which we live, for responsibilities we hold, and for ourselves as individuals who all hold unique and indisputable value.
Empathy - The cornerstone of social relations which allows us to better understand others, to care for issues outside our own lives, to develop as mature social beings.
Communication - Success in today’s world is accomplished by teams, not individuals. Communication is the basis of teamwork, of relationships, and of better understanding of the self.
Excellence - Excellence is possible within each and every individual. While we don’t need to be the best at everything, we strive to achieve the best possible quality within our abilities in each and every endeavor we are a part of.
Integrity - In an era when information is overloaded, the truth is murky, and even academic records are fabricated and inflated, 5IN insists on maintaining integrity and principles.
5IN’s Beliefs
5IN believes that the common social understanding of “education” is in need of a fundamental shift.
Too long, secondary education has been seen as simply a transitory and subservient to a “real goal”, such as entering university or in service of finding a “good” job. This suggests that the years of junior and senior high, which are in actuality the most important formative years of an individual’s values, personality, and life outlook, are simply a transactional period which must be “endured” in order to achieve actual success or happiness.
Ironically, traditional educational thought does little to address what “success” actually means, or what the building blocks of happiness might be for each person. 5IN contends that the value of education is in the experience gained through the learning act, the growing process, the achievements and failures through facing challenges, and in the stimulation received and corresponding realizations, reflections, and formation of the self that results.
A student who simply wants to learn “lots of knowledge”, the teacher prides themselves on producing students who will “ace the test”, the parent whose main goal is for their child to “enter top universities” would not be a good fit for the 5IN program. Instead, the individual who wishes to devote themselves to the exploration of what life has to offer, the possibilities that can be achieved within oneself, to understand the current reality and norms of the world and reflect on where they themselves lie in comparison to this, to actively shape their own learning, lives, and society at large, would find achievement, support, and joy in the 5IN educational program.
5IN’s Mission
5IN’s main mission is to provide an educational experience that prepares students with the thinking abilities and actualization skills to be successful in an unclear future.
We aim to develop and implement an educational program which has been designed from first principles thinking of what is in the best interest of student growth and development.
We assist students in finding and defining personal values and identity, and help students set their own life goals and plans. At the same time, 5IN helps develop students to become responsible and contributing social individuals and group members through meaningful interactions with general society.
It is additionally our mission to train individuals to become excellent leaders and team members, to be ready to contribute in a multitude of differing contexts.
Lastly, we develop students to be active planners of their own learning process with the skills and desire to self learn. The aim is for students to see learning and information as cross contextual, practical, rooted in everyday life, and fun, while at the same time preparing them for the day when they will need to adapt and teach themselves.