Philosophy

Founded initially by the Ingenium LEarning Resources Foundation (ILRFI) in 2000, INGENIUM SCHOOL was born of the experience—and the faith supported by abundant research—that every child is blessed with a wealth of native talents (ingenium in Latin).   “Wired” since birth for learning, each child has the potential for undertaking the learning processes necessary for native talents to develop.  However, a nurturing, stimulating, encouraging and joyful environment is required for these talents to blossom and bear fruits that can make positive contributions to society.

Consistent with its philosophy, the primary mission of INGENIUM is to assist the child in his or her earliest and most critical years of growth to develop the healthy love of himself or herself, the love of others, the love of learning, the love of creation—the love of life itself—as befits a child of God.

A corollary mission is to create a learning environment that not only addresses the developmental needs of the pupils  but also supports the child-rearing efforts of the parents  as well as the personal and professional growth of the INGENIUM teachers and staff.

The vision of INGENIUM for “A better Philippines”rests on a profound understanding of the human society that is the Philippines, and of the human person that is the student.

The Philippine Society:  A Human Society

Briefly stated, a human society functions through its institutions, starting from its most basic institutional unit that is the family, all the way to its sectoral, national and, in this globalizing age, its participation in global institutions. A human society’s Institutions, in turn, are the creation of man, not only in their beginnings, but most observably in their continuation as institutions: in their effectiveness or ineffectiveness to accomplish their objectives,   in their successful adjustments or failure to adjust to changing circumstances, in their progress or decline. Thus, the success or failure of a family as an institution depends on the members of that family—principally, the parents and their children—just as the success and failure of a society depends on its members, on the leaders of its various institutions and on the members of those institutions.  A common truism expresses this insight as far as the government sector is concerned: “A people gets the government it deserves.”

 

The Human Person

Because human institutions are human creations, the effectiveness and quality of those institutions, and therefore of  Philippine society, will depend on the effectiveness and quality of its people—the individual persons leading or participating in those institutions.  Crucial in the process of forming the human person are the formative years, the manner of developing  intelligence, the learning environment, and the very conceptualization of development of the human person.

• The Formative Years of Basic Education.  A human person is never static; at any moment of her/his life, s/he is in the process either of growth or decline,  of progress or retrogression. In the range of lifelong development and change, INGENIUM believes that the earliest years are the most formative. Hence, to pursue its vision of a better Philippines, INGENIUM focuses on basic education—from pre-school to high school, or from 2.5 years old to 14-16 years old.

• The Learning Environment. INGENIUM is born of the experience—and the faith supported by abundant research—that every child is blessed with a wealth of native talents (ingenium in Latin).   “Wired” since birth for learning, each child has the potential for undertaking the learning process necessary for native talents to develop.  However, a nurturing, stimulating, encouraging and joyful environment is required for these talents to blossom and bear fruits that can make positive contributions to society.

• Development of Intelligence. In line with the western cultural and academic tradition, INGENIUM places a high premium on the development of the student’s intelligence. The varied and muLti-dimensional  nature  of intelligence is cultivated through a varied but well-balanced program that takes into account the way the brain, our main apparatus for learning, works and learns.  A main focus of that program is INGENIUM’s academic program that aims at the highest global level of excellence.

• Development of the Person. INGENIUM also believes, however, that the human person is not to be simply equated with the student’s  intelligence, with his or her thinking. Indeed a more appropriate expression of the human person that is the student  is the quality of his or her deciding and choosing, of his or her deliberate courses of action. In the act of deciding and choosing,  INGENIUM believes (together with the best tradition of both western and the eastern cultures), that what is involved is not only the “mind”,  but also the “heart”. In other words, the orientation of the student, his or her “values” (what in fact s/he habitually chooses), what s/he considers “good” are the critical considerations in the quality of his or her decision and choice. A person’s decision and deliberate action become the measure of the kind of person s/he is.

Because human development is lifelong, and choice is an act of freedom, choices become truly the responsibility of the individual person. However, INGENIUM believes that appropriate formation in the earliest years can greatly influence the quality of a student’s future decisions as a mature adult.

The foremost symbols of INGENIUM—its logos—encapsulate its mission and ideals.

The safe and stimulating physical environment and the nurturing culture  INGENIUM envisions are symbolized by the INGENIUM  flower that serves as the Preschool logo.  They are summarized by the school motto:

 

Where God's given talents blossom in joy!

Preschool logo

For the Grade School, the vision of INGENIUM for a better Philippines is captured by the motto in its logo:  Civitas, Sapientia, Caritas.  The Latin words are an explicit recognition that INGENIUM draws deeply from the wellsprings of western civilization.  While remaining intensely Asian and Filipino, INGENIUM recognizes the oneness of the human family, the unity of truth and knowledge, the cumulative achievement of all cultures throughout time.  This rich cross-fertilization of cultures can only intensify in the present age of globalization.

 

The logo also bears the stylized Greek letter of chi rho.  The chi (X) rho (P) symbol, stylized in the logo as P with a cross, is an anagram of the first two  letters of Christos (in Greek).  Its location at the center of the logo expresses INGENIUM’s belief that the concrete model of the kind of human being INGENIUM seeks to produce is the man, Jesus.