This question may sound like science fiction, but Mirei and his peers may one day face very real choices like these. And in order to answer it, the students were challenged not only to look deeply within themselves, but also to study chemistry and physics, read literature and the history of utopias and dystopias, and learn how to debate respectfully to arrive at the wisest course of action. This format of learning, called project-based learning, is one reason why Hakuba International School has earned renown for innovation.
Prior to this day with the snow monkeys, Mirei had gravitated toward “Team Mars,” excited by the possibilities of a new planet. But then something changed. He writes:
“I kept taking pictures of snow monkeys, and while capturing them in my frame, I felt a well between myself and the monkeys. I felt this was a wall that humans had made over the past few hundred of years between wildlife and human society. My current project in school poses the question: how will we shape the future? When our teachers first asked us whether we should move to Mars or stay on Earth, I thought we should move to Mars as soon as possible… but after encountering and taking photos of the snow monkeys, I’ve changed my mind.”
“Perhaps my thinking is naive, because it’s based on intuition and personal experience rather than academic evidence, but maybe that’s why the type of experiential learning we do at HIS is so important. If we want to flourish we need to understand our connections to each other and everything around us.”-
Mirei’s story is one of many coming out of Hakuba Internatioal School, which opened just three years ago and has already established itself as an innovative leader in education.
Opened in 2022 by founder Tomoko Kusumoto, the school now draws students from 15 countries, offering both boarding and day enrollment. Its use of innovative learning methods, ranging from a collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to teach systems thinking, to an ambitious outdoor education and ecological science program, points the way forward for other schools to adopt more engaging teaching methods.
As HIS Co-Principal Chris Balma describes it, in traditional classrooms, a teacher is lecturing, students take notes and work individually, and memorization is the prized skill. But in the 21st century, students need a different set of skills: to collaborate with peers, take on complex problems where there is no simple answer, pick themselves up after a mistake, try again, and have space to follow their curiosity and passion.
The goal is to help each student discover authentic areas of passion and interest, with the skills and confidence to bring those into action in the real world. It all ties back to the founding question of Hakuba International School: What kind of education enables people and the planet to flourish? How schools answer this question may determine not only how much joy and meaning each child feels in their education, but also whether the next generation can solve humanity’s greatest challenges.
