Thank you for this, Michael. I have not thought about educational philosophy (if that’s what this is) but your comments make a lot of sense. If I were a parent considering a school for my child (am now way past that stage!), I would be “sold” on yours. Your comments about putting motivation first then get to skills makes me think that this is what Ayn Rand did to become a philosopher. As I understand it, she did not initially want to become a philosopher as such but rather to be a story teller – specifically to portray what she considered to be the “ideal man” (human). In order to do this she had to think though what should be considered “ideal” – what is the nature of “good” in regards to human life, etc, etc. It was only by delving deeply into these questions (ie developing skills in philosophy) that she could achieve what she really wanted – to portray the ideal man.