Educating me
I was a bad student,” says Lex Ledesma, founder of The One School, “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to learn or couldn’t; the education system just wasn’t conducive to excel at that.” One of the country’s most dynamic and successful young entrepreneurs, he isn’t someone that strikes you as being a lay-about. In fact, he’s the complete opposite: always eager and patient to explain things until one gains an understanding of what he’s saying, while never manic or obsessive enough to turn you off. Blessed with a smile like a benign Buddha’s but speaking with vernacular bonhomie, he’s not hard to like or believe.
If anything, one can’t help but agree with him. Especially for people (like this writer) who had such a bad time in school, it’s not hard to see his point. (It was so awful that I even flunked all my writing subjects and history — or worse, was barely average.)
“There are many specialized schools at the high school and grade school levels which cater to the different learning styles that young people have,” he points out in the One School literature. “By college, however, most schools teach using the same, traditional methods that have been employed for generations.”
Lex adds: “The One School believes in personalized instruction that happens in small classroom environments, where students learn how to speak up, be unique and create whatever learning structure works best for them.”
The phrase he uses to sum up their philosophy is “College Personified.” To elucidate what this means, he reiterates that the purpose of education is about “helping students find their voice.” And part of this is being dynamic enough to explore new media and opening programs to help develop these emerging fields.
Lex has just partnered with pioneering graphic design studio Team Manila and film director Quark Henares to conduct short programs as well as degree programs in Intermedia Arts and Film, Entrepreneurship and Fashion Design and Marketing under SHIFT (School of Intermedia, Film and Technology). Both Team Manila and Quark are well-established names in their respective disciplines but more than that remain active in the local industry and scene — disproving the oft-quoted witticism, “Those who can’t, teach.”
Quark, in particular, is a poster boy of youth culture in all its myriad forms. Aside from several films (including his highly-anticipated Rakenrol slated for release this year) and hobnobbing with Quentin Tarantino and Michel Gondry, he’s already been a teacher and mentor to a number of the country’s most acclaimed new filmmakers. (This includes MYX creative head Wincy Ong, award-winning directors such as King Palisoc, Zig Marasigan, Sherad Sanchez and Juan Miguel Sevilla and indie wonderboy Mihk Vergara, to name a few.)
A graduate of Stanford University Master of Science in Engineering, Lex balances the Shift program with his business knowledge, teaching students how to “create profitable careers out of their raw talent.”
According to their curriculum, students will “learn how to use all digital formats such as graphic design, web design, film and others to create powerful still and moving images.” Lex adds that he wants to “push the envelope and create a venue for renegade visual artists and filmmakers to perfect their craft.”
Sounds too much like fun. It’s difficult to imagine school as anything but the dreary, pedantic, seemingly endless stretch of The Green Mile, a waiting room for the soul experience that made me the person I am today. With that said, perhaps the children are the future — for once that platitude is plausible to these jaded ears.
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Hallelujah!
The One School is located at 55 Paseo de Roxas St. and 3904 Quingua St., Makati City. www.theoneschool.org. Tel. 401-1389, 817-4391, 817-4396. Partner international universities: Dominican University of California, University of Business and Finance Switzerland and Study House UK.
