Smart act

Ron Packard has a dream - he wants to make high-quality education accessible to every child in the world. The man behind Dubai's new K12 Academy tells Sara Sayed how his childhood inspired his home schooling programme

All parents wants to equip their children with the tools necessary to achieve future success.

As a well-known proverb goes: "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a gazelle or a lion. When the sun comes up, you better start running."

Ron Packard is in the business of training the next generation, equipping children the world over with the tools to become fast and fit gazelles and lions.

He is the CEO of K12 Inc, a leading American technology-based education company that provides individualised, flexible education options to students from kindergarten to grade 12.

On a recent visit to the UAE, he explains that essentially K12 supports parents who decide to take their child's education into their own hands. Its programmes also help kids to self-learn.

"The importance of practice and hard work is a key underpinning of K12," he says. "We have designed a system whereby each student must work on a lesson until they master it."

While parents cannot predict the future, they are aware of their children's talents, abilities, challenges and preferences and can help foster knowledge, independence, flexibility and self-confidence in their kids.

However, Packard believes this can be achieved even more successfully through individualised, teacher-supported e-learning.

Some say it takes a community to raise a child. Under the K12 system, parents, teachers and students work together and are supported by an online curriculum.
But what of socialisation?

Not an issue, says Packard.

Home schooling parents and children meet for social activities and events and communicate electronically.
Raised by a studious mum and a dad who loves maths and technology, Packard says his parents were committed to providing him with every learning opportunity imaginable.

Today he's doing much the same as them - giving young people the opportunity to broaden their horizons.

Prior to starting K12 Inc in 1999, he worked for Knowledge Universe, another education company. Before that he was at McKinsey and Co and Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. But Wall Street wasn't for him - he dreamed of building a new business, not managing an old one.

His inspiration for K12 came from an unlikely source - his daughter's maths homework. It was proving unchallenging and unsatisfactory, so Packard searched online for good maths lessons for her. He found none, but discovered the potential for K12.

Using the reach of the internet, he brought together innovative educators and technology experts to create a curriculum and learning programme. The response was phenomenal. K12 has a 97 per cent satisfaction rating among parents of the 35,000 students in its virtual schools, he says.

Having studied the private school market in the UAE, Packard saw opportunities beckon here too.

"We found there is a strong desire for technology-based learning, 21st century skills development and more individualised learning approaches - especially for gifted and special needs children," he says.

"We chose to locate the first K12 International Academy in Dubai Knowledge Village. Our decision to locate it here in the UAE was based on the open and booming economy, the foresight of the leadership and the cultural openness to new systems and alternatives."

Packard's mission is to carry the torch of education to every corner of the world, to provide others with the opportunities he had.

"Albert Einstein once said, 'Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony.' In the middle of difficulty, find opportunity," he says.

"Growth and change go hand in hand. Extraordinary things are accomplished by extraordinary people exerting extraordinary effort."

I
I was significantly influenced by my parents, Mel and Rita. Both of them were the first members of their respective families to obtain a college degree. They taught me to take initiative and pursue excellence in all endeavours.

I've always believed that introducing innovation, competition and entrepreneurship will lead to a better result.

I think if you combine your talents with a belief in what you are doing and based on that belief, the continual and relentless pursuit of excellence, failure isn't possible. As US President John Adams once said, "The harder we work, the luckier we get."

I think it was after reading Atlas Shrugged, the 1957 novel by Ayn Rand, that I realised that my strongest inner desire was to innovate, and I recognised how important innovation and entrepreneurship were to advancing the world's economy and standard of living.

While I disagree with Rand on some issues, I agree with her central thesis that independence, innovation, entrepreneurship and individual achievement enable society to survive, progress and thrive. If the world had not had innovators like Thomas Edison or Al Khwarism, the father of algebra, where would we be today?

I feel that my purpose in life is to help parents and educators discover and develop the minds of children and to help kids reach their greatest potential through education.

ME

Me and my childhood:
I was born in New York City in 1963, but spent most of my childhood in Thousand Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles. My mother was a phenomenal, determined student who graduated second in her class at one of the nation's most selective high schools.

Her parents were immigrants to the US who were determined to provide her with opportunities that they never had. She carried on that tradition - she really instilled in me the importance of education.

From my father, a talented engineer who ran a small division of Hughes Aircraft, I inherited his love of maths, science and technology and his incredible work ethic.

I used to laugh at him for working so hard, but found myself to be the same way by the time I was 21. If I had a dollar for every time he said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going", I would be a wealthy man.

Most importantly, he was also a man of tremendous integrity and I strive every day to live up to that standard. He taught me to conduct my daily affairs with integrity above all and to be a man of my word.

I had a typical middle-class upbringing and spent most of my free time playing sport: football, basketball, wrestling and track. Sport taught me a great deal about teamwork, hard work and the practice.

I think athletics builds character and teaches people to deal with both success and adversity. I have encouraged my children, Alexandra, 13, Chase, 11 and Branson, 6, to be involved in athletics.

Yet even though they are all fine athletes, each of them would tell you that school is the most important priority, as it was for me.

I attended the University of California at Berkeley after high school and majored in engineering, primarily because of my lifelong love for science and technology. I added economics as a second degree because I was also developing a strong interest in commerce and entrepreneurship.

I spent my summers working as a computer programmer for Hughes Aircraft. Those years proved quite valuable throughout my career. Although I no longer write code or design systems, those jobs helped me understand technology and systems.

Me and Wall Street:
After Berkeley, I decided to leave engineering and instead work on Wall Street. New York is an amazing place to live when you are 21! I met so many bright, young, ambitious people who gathered there from the nation's top universities to start making their way in the world.

There is no place on earth like New York! It was there that I learned to love working long hours on projects for which I had real passion, in the company of smart, well-educated people - and (eating) hot pretzels with mustard!

After two years, I decided to pursue an MBA at the University of Chicago. As a student, I was thrilled to take classes with eminent finance professors such as Merton Miller and Eugene Fama. Until the last semester of my final year, I was certain I would go back to Wall Street.

The only non-Wall Street job I interviewed for was a job at McKinsey and Co, a management consulting firm. About two months before graduation, I realised that although I liked Wall Street, I was more interested in creating something new than managing something old.

What I really wanted was to eventually create and run my own company.

Nonetheless, I took the job at McKinsey and it was a great experience. In my years there, I was exposed to a variety of industries and had the opportunity to work in several different countries including Japan, Portugal, England and Norway.

Working in so many countries gives one a very different perspective of the world and a profound respect for other cultures and their way of doing things.

The way business is conducted in Norway is different from how it works in Portugal, Japan, Chile, the UAE or any other country. I've experienced this first-hand and learned the importance of adapting to the local culture.

Me and Knowledge Universe:
While I was at McKinsey, I was recruited by Mike Milken to join Knowledge Universe, a leading global education company. This was a great opportunity not only to learn about education services, but also to merge my professional interests and acumen with my desire to educate children.

This job enabled me to build and develop something I had a passion for and to learn from the best, most innovative minds in the business - Mike and his brother Lowell.

My tenure there encompassed innovation, cutting-edge technology, creativity, entrepreneurial initiatives and education development. I spent several years purchasing education companies and also running an early childhood education company.

Me and my inspiration:
Eight years ago, while I was helping my daughter with her homework I had the inspiration for K12. I was unhappy with the level of maths she was being taught - it just wasn't rigorous enough to prepare her for the future.

I searched the internet, but was unable to find a complete high-quality online course that would be equivalent to what the best schools in the world were teaching. I began to wonder: how many parents were there in the same situation? So the seed that was planted early in my life to expand possibilities for the next generation came into bloom.

My vision for K12 became clear: to provide children access to a comprehensive, high-quality learning programme and … (with the use of) technology and the internet deliver a world-class education to any child, regardless of his or her geographic, economic or academic circumstance.

I realised that technology had changed almost every industry dramatically, with the exception of education. The classrooms of 1900 look very similar to the classrooms in 2000.

It was clear then and remains clear now … that education can greatly benefit from technology. At K12 we are interested in helping move public education forward, to equip kids with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the 21st century.

MYSELF

How do you see the future of education in the UAE and the Gulf region?
What is happening in the Gulf is tremendous. Few places have ever experienced what the UAE is going through in terms of growth.

I am impressed with the desire of almost every country in the region to create world-class education systems and their recognition that this is essential to economic development and innovation.

By speaking to leaders in the region, I have found that there is a fundamental understanding that competitive forces are needed to create the best educational system.

What are your thoughts on traditional versus non-traditional forms of education?
Education must prepare children to be successful in the 21st century. This includes not only the knowledge, skills and values that are taught in a traditional education model, but also a strong sense of creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and the ability to work in a 21st century workplace.

Ideally, education should allow the child to succeed in whatever endeavour his aptitude and avocation lead him. I believe technology can greatly level the playing field in education by making teachers more consistently effective everywhere and making the content more accessible and engaging.

There is no reason why every child on the planet should not have access to a world-class education.

In the 21st century the speed and nature of change is so great that students must become self-learners to keep pace. In order to succeed in the future, people will be required to continually update their skills and education. Students need to be independent and continuous learners.

What are K12's offerings in the US? Is it possible to apply your programmes to traditional classrooms?
In the US we manage many public online schools, where children receive a great public education but can take advantage of individualised learning and the internet.

This allows them to get a great education without being in a brick-and-mortar building and access a highly qualified and motivated teacher who they interact with via e-mail, webcasts, telephone and face-to-face meetings when needed.

We are also piloting our curriculum and technology in traditional classrooms and the results are promising. We are currently looking at how we could expand this model.

Can you recall any particularly memorable memories of parents and children who have used your programme?
Recently, I met one of the parents using our programme in the US who told me the story of her son.

He was a third grader who was extraordinarily gifted in maths and science but used to struggle with reading. His local public school held him back in science and maths to the grade level he was capable of in reading. As a result, this young boy hated school and became depressed, moody and very withdrawn.

Then his mother found out about K12 and within a year, her son had reached his grade-appropriate level in reading, while working three grade levels ahead in science and maths.

Furthermore, he had written a book entitled 'Extinction by Education', which explained that dinosaurs became extinct through bad education!

It's this mother's story and other stories like hers that make me jump out of bed every morning to go to work.

For more information about the K12 Academy in Knowledge Village, visit www.k12.com/int.