The Fog: A Mist with No Exit
"I myself have had my life threatened and my mind and body harmed by evaluation."
This is the beginning of our journey and the entire reason why this lighthouse was lit. From parents, from schools, from society. How many countless knives named "evaluation" have wounded minds and bodies and nipped potential in the bud? This is not someone else's story. It might be the story of my former self, or of "you" who, at this very moment, are holding your breath in a corner of a classroom, at an office desk, or within your home.
We are living in a society of "evaluation fatigue" before we know it.
- In schools, amidst entrance exam hell, children forget the "joy of learning" and live in a "small adult society" swirled with distrust. Performance as a one-dimensional ruler denies their infinite individuality and value, making them believe "I am a useless person."
- In workplaces, 1-on-1s become hollowed out, and for fear of evaluation from superiors, an air of "waiting for instructions" where everyone avoids challenges prevails. Psychological safety is lost, and genuine dialogue is not born.
- And in homes, especially for those choosing homeschooling, parents suffer from the conflict of "parent becoming evaluator" out of love. They worry, "Am I able to see objectively?" or "Am I really able to believe in this child's growth?"
At the root of this is a cold gaze called "evaluation" that measures and prioritizes people by scores and results. I decided to set sail to clear this mist.
Our Dialogue: Finding the Route through Dialogue
In the long journey looking for an exit, I found light in the words of an educational thinker, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. What he preached was not standardized education for the state, but "Value-Creating Education" for each child to create a happy life. It was the starting point of human education, where humans find each other's "goodness" that cannot be measured by test scores and enjoy the happiness of coexistence.
That thought led me to a simple act that modern society is about to lose. That is "Appreciation."
Appreciation is the act of respecting not only results but also the process leading to them, tasting the ingenuity, challenges, or even the suffering and confusion unique to that person with a warm gaze, and finding value in them.
But how can this delicate "Appreciation" be implemented in modern classrooms or teams? Many said "Just make something like social media." However, I firmly opposed that. Because "Likes" create new evaluations, and "Replies" create peer pressure from those with loud voices. They are nothing but noise that hinders essential dialogue.
What I needed was a "Sanctuary" with high psychological safety, completely liberated from evaluation. For that, I designed two absolute rules.
- Guarantee complete "Equality." Everyone is horizontal and can spin their own words without worrying about anyone's evaluation.
- Implement a reliable "One-on-One Gaze." One's record is always watched over by one serious reader, and one also becomes the sole appreciator for someone.
The Lighthouse's Beam: The Lighthouse Light
With these two rules as the heart, our thoughts finally took concrete shape. That is the "Appreciation Portfolio," three lights from the lighthouse.
- For schools, the "Learning Appreciation Portfolio." To turn evaluation time into a joyful time discovering each student's "story of learning."
- For workplaces, the "Work Appreciation Portfolio." To liberate managers from "evaluators" to "the best appreciators" who light up members' challenges.
- And for homes, the "Homeschooling Learning Appreciation Portfolio." To release parents from the pressure of being "evaluators" and turn them into "the best partners" who purely rejoice in and accompany their child's learning.
And as a place where all these lights gather, "Gakupo University" was born, where society as a whole learns together.
Common Values Brought by the Three Lights
These three lighthouse lights, although they illuminate different seas (education, work, home), bring three valuable changes in common.
As a Mirror
Reflects the current situation objectively and provides a catalyst for self-understanding.
As a Logbook
Visualizes the process of challenge itself as a valuable record of growth.
As a Compass
Provides concrete action guidelines for taking the next step.
A New Dawn: A New Beginning
The light of this small lighthouse is beginning to spread quietly but steadily.
In one middle school, a student who previously could not speak began writing brilliant observations on the app, and the entire class was surprised by his hidden talent. In one company, 1-on-1s that had become formal were transformed dramatically into "dialogue times to talk about the future based on the records of the appreciation portfolio."
In one homeschooling household, it is said that since the day the mother began writing "appreciation" comments instead of "evaluation" comments on the child's learning record, the child began talking about learning with shining eyes, saying, "Mom, I discovered this today!". The mother says, "I stopped being an evaluator and was finally able to become the best fan of this child's learning."
These are not special miracles. When the cold mist of "evaluation" cleared, the warm, intellectual light that everyone should originally possess began to shine naturally. Our journey has only just begun.
