Chicago Magazine names Council Oak a top private school in Chicago

What are your goals for your child’s education? What types of knowledge and skillsets do you want her to acquire during her critical early years of education? What type of person do you want her to be when she is twenty-five?

As you choose a school for your child, your answers to these questions can guide your choice. How will the school you choose shape your child? Will the school’s educational philosophy result in the outcomes you value? Will it prepare her for a successful life?

Different schools place different emphasis on what matters in the classroom. At a fundamental level, some schools focus on the method of learning. Their main goal is teaching children how to learn—how to tackle any new problem, how to become self-motivated. This approach is associated with progressive education and such thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Dewey, and John Holt…