SCHOOL OF TOMORROW는 1963년 미국정부에서 진화론 및 죤 듀이의 인본주의 실용화 교육 철학을 공교육에 접목시키자 이에 반발한 한 유명 교육학자 DONALD HOWARD 박사 팀에 의해 당시 금액으로 5천만 달러를 투자하여 개발한 ACE (ACCELERATED CHRISTIAN EDUCATION)를 커리큘럼으로 하여 설립된 미래를 위한 기독교 교육학교입니다. 이 커리큘럼은 처음에는 미국 내 기독교 신자들의 홈 스쿨로 시작하여 1970년에 접어들어 합법적으로 공식 출범하여 지금은 미 연방정부 교육협의회(SACS-SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND SCHOOLS)로부터 공인됐으며, 동시에 국제교육협의회(CITA ASSOCIATION)의 공인을 받은 명실공이 국제학교 성격의 기독교 학교로써, SCHOOL OF TOMORROW학교 졸업생은 세계 어느 나라에서도 동일 학년으로 인정받고 있습니다. 지난 50여 년 이상 동안 미국, 유럽, 러시아, 아프리카, 남미, 일본, 중국 등 세계 145개 이상의 나라 7,000여개 국공립 및 사립학교가 사용하는 우수교육 커리큘럼으로 인정받고 있습니다.


비단 미국 뿐 아니라 자녀들의 인격과 신앙을 염려하는 크리스찬 부모로서 우리가 항상 고민하는 문제 중의 하나가 자녀들 문제입니다. 자녀들이 무신론 환경의 학교, 경쟁과 갈등이 있는 교실구조, 지옥을 통과해 지나가는 것 같은 입시지옥의 사이에서 신음하고 있는 것을 보면서 마음이 아픕니다. 특히 입시 경쟁에서 뒤로 쳐진 자녀들이 어떻게 성공적인 godly young people로 살아남게 하느냐를 고민합니다. 우리와 똑 같은 고민은 아니더라도 이와 비슷한 고민을 했던 한 유명한 교육학자가 School of Tomorrow 교육시스템을 개발했습니다. Christian Legacy Academy는 바로 School of Tomorrow 교육시스템을 적용하여 학생들을 가르치고 있습니다.


미국의 School of Tomorrow라는 이름은, 미국 전국의 모든 주의 도시들과 local 지방에 퍼져 존재하고 있는 기독 사립학교가 공동으로 쓰고 있는 학교 이름입니다. 줄여서 SOT 라고도 부르며, 본부가 Tennessee에 있고, 교재 교과서 공급 사무실은 Texas에 있습니다. School of Tomorrow가 쓰는 교재의 이름을 Accelerated Christian Education이라 하며 그냥 줄여서 ACE 라고도 합니다.


한국에는 10여 년 전부터 한국의 몇 큰 도시에 School of Tomorrow가 도입되어 조용히 운영되고 있었으며, 근래에 들어 여러 도시들에서도 제법 생겨서 현재 전국적으로 40여 School of Tomorrow 학교가 생겨났고 금년 3월 21일에는 서울의 기독교 TV 방송국에서도 회사 사옥의 교실을 이용하여 School of Tomorrow 학교를 개교하였다고 합니다.


미국에서는 일반 공립학교들이 영적으로 도덕적으로 땅에 떨어져 있는 것을 주님의 눈으로 바라보며 마음 아파하는 부모들이 School of Tomorrow 학교들에 찾아와서 자녀들을 맡깁니다. 특히 local church들이 각 교회의 교육관에 이 학교를 개설한 경우가 많아서 교계에 널리 알려져 있습니다. 도덕성이 타락한 공립학교에 대하여 실망하고 지쳐버린 많은 목사들이 미국 전국 각지의 교회 부속 시설들에서 운영하고 있는 것입니다. 이 학교 과정은 철저히 예수 그리스도를 영접하고 그 분 안에서 성장해 가는 것을 전제합니다.


SOT 교과서는 과학 및 생물 교재까지도 창조론으로 첫 페이지를 시작합니다. 그러나 학문적으로도 절대 뒤지지 않습니다. 수십 명의 과학자들이 함께 모여 수 천만 달러를 투입하여 만든 수준있는 교재입니다. 매일 수업 때 기도하며 시작하고 매일 주의 말씀을 15분 혹은 30분 씩 공부한 후 그 신앙의 정신으로 진행 하는 수학, 영어, 과학, 생물, 역사, 체육  .................. 등등의 학업 과정이기에 철저히 그리스도의 신앙 안에서 양육합니다. 이제 미국을 넘어 아시아, 아프리카, 유럽 등의 여러 나라 145 국가에 이 School of Tomorrow 학교들이 퍼져 나가는 것뿐만 아니라 러시아에서는 SOT의 영어 교재가 국정 영어 교과서들 중의 하나로 채택이 되기까지 하였습니다.


이 교과서가 신앙적이다는 이유로 학문적으로 뒤떨어진 것처럼 생각할 필요는 하나도 없습니다. SOT 과정으로 고등학교 과정을 마친 학생들이 프린스톤, 예일 대학..등 어디든 입학 허가를 받아 들어갔기 때문에 한국의 유명 대학들도 이 과정을 마친 학생들을 받아 줍니다. 심지어 영국의 케임브리지 대학교에서는 미국의 기독 학교들 중에서는 유일하게 School of Tomorrow (SOT) 졸업생들을 특전으로 받기로 했다는 소식도 들립니다. 그러므로 이 SOT 과정은 학력에 있어서 세상의 어떤 학업 과정에 뒤지지 않은 세계적으로 인정된 과정입니다.


School of Tomorrow Philippines: Enabling children to learn at their own pace.


What started as a small class in Cavite City 40 years ago has grown into a network of 498 schools all over the Philippines. Daring to dream big was, however, the furthest thing from the minds of Rev. Delbert Hooge and his wife Lora Lee, when they started what would become School of Tomorrow (SOT) Philippines, the local proponent of a unique individualized system of education.


SOT, also known as the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), is an individualized system of education that allows personalized growth, ensuring mastery of the subject matter according to the student’s individual rate of learning. Used and recognized in more than 140 countries, it is a self-instructional system where students advance by learning and mastering bite-sized, achievable worktexts or modules called PACEs, each of which is equivalent to a chapter in a standard textbook. A year of academic progress is usually made up of 12 PACEs.


It is recognized by the Department of Education (DepEd). SOT Philippines’ system is made up of a full-year pre-school program where children aged four and five develop the basic skills that prepare them to learn to read; an intensive pre-elementary reading program that can be completed in 12 to 15 weeks depending on the child’s capacity to learn; an elementary program that can be completed in six to eight years; and a high school program that is usually accomplished within three to four years. “So as you can see, we have been implementing the K-12 program for nearly 40 years now, long before the DepEd adopted it,” says Rev. Hooge, SOT Philippines executive  director.


Humble beginnings


The founders were children of American missionaries who were assigned to the Philippines. Both of them grew up in the country. Rev. Hooge completed his junior high in Faith Academy in Manila, while Lora Lee finished high school at Manila’s American School. After they returned to the United States to finish their studies, they both enrolled at the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri.


They came back to the Philippines as a missionary couple in 1967 and were assigned in Cavite City. Desiring to give their three children a good Christian education, they began looking for an appropriate school. Rev. Hooge’s first choice was, understandably, his alma mater, Faith Academy, which, unfortunately, had already transferred to Cainta, quite far from Cavite. Not wanting to put their children in boarding school, Lora Lee decided to homeschool them. Soon after, other parents began asking if their children might have the same education.


“We began really small,” Lora Lee recalls. “We just took one of the Sunday school rooms of the church and made it our classroom.” When Donald R. Howard, founder of ACE learned what the Hooges were doing, he encouraged schools in the US to send their used PACEs to the Philippines. “We were, of course, very thankful to Howard, but using those already used PACEs was very difficult,” Rev. Hooge says. “We had to erase all the answers written on them before we could use them and that required a lot of time and work!”


But when SOT Philippines was given the right to print PACEs, things became easier and Lora Lee’s classes began to grow bigger. As word about the SOT system spread, more pastors became interested and started putting up similar schools as part of their churches’ ministry.


The SOT program


SOT Philippines’ elementary program consists of eight major academic subjects: Mathematics, English, Social Studies, Science, Word Building (Spelling), Literature and Creative Writing, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan. There are also mini-classes for minor subjects such as Values Education, Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health, and Home Economics. The core subjects are all studied using PACEs designed for mastery and continuous progress.


The high school program, on the other hand, consists of specialized areas in Mathematics (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II and Trigonometry); English (English I-IV); Science (Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry and Physics); Social Studies (Philippine History, Asian History, World History, World Geography and Economics); Filipino (Filipino I-IV); as well as additional subjects such as Etymology, Speech and Bible courses. Lecture classes are also conducted in Music, Values Education, Physical Education and Health, Home Technology, Science Laboratory (where students perform hands-on science experiments) and Computer Literacy. High achievers can take advanced subjects in Mathematics, English and Science.


From small to nationwide


“Again, we started very small,” says Lora Lee who was named PCST founder and system consultant. “We rented six-doors of an apartment building in Alabang, Muntinlupa. We didn’t even want to put up a sign.” The school steadily grew and today, PCST is located in a 1.6-hectare gated compound in Levitown Executive Village in Paraňaque City. The compound has fully air-conditioned learning centers, well-equipped computer and science laboratories, playgrounds, a Music Room, an Arts Center, a 200-meter track oval, a seven-lane competition pool measuring 20 meters in length and a fully air-conditioned theater/gymnasium.


At present, there are 498 schools all over the Philippines that actively use the system. They are located in big cities, in small towns and even in such remote places as the Camotes Islands of Cebu. “We even have a school in the mountains of Palawan where a graduate, a young woman from the Batak tribe, is now teaching Batak children how to read,” says Cesar de Ocampo, SOT Philippines training director. Most of these schools are small, with 30 to 40 students on average, but there are a few big ones with 200 or more students.


“Our schools continue to do well and so do our graduates,” Lora Lee says beaming. “After they graduate, they have been accepted in leading colleges and universities, not only in the Philippines but in other countries as well.” And thanks to the training they get under the SOT system, they perform well in college and even in their careers, she adds. “We have graduates who are now pursuing successful careers in medicine, law, education and other professions,” she points out. “We even have one physicist who is now working at the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the US.” 


Daring to dream


Each year SOT holds an Educators’ Convention that gathers the teachers and administrators of its schools all over the country. “Dare to Dream” was the theme of the nine Educators’ Convention that SOT conducted this year in seven cities: Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Metro Manila, Baguio and Tagaytay. The conventions were attended by over 2,000 participants from more than 300 schools all over the country that use the SOT system. With such accomplishments gathered in 40 years of SOT’s existence in the country, it is not surprising that the Hooges feel the time has come to dream – and to dream big. For instance, next year, SOT Philippines is envisioning a “big international blowout” to mark its 40th year in the country as well as the 25th anniversary of the National Student Convention that the SOT conducts annually. Guests from other countries are anticipated to be in Manila where there will be a week-and-a-half of celebration next year.


The past 39 years reveal stories of students who have been affected by this dream of a world class educational system in the Philippines. With schools in every strata of society, School of Tomorrow and its unique system of individualized education, continues to prepare every child for a productive and fulfilling life.  The dream goes on.