Every now and then I come across the question from either one of my students or a prospective Kumon family, "What does the Kumon face portray?" or "Is this a sad face?", and I am quite happy to awnser that it isn't a sad face at all but actually represents a thinking face.
THE “THINKING FACE”
The "THINKING FACE" as contained in the Kumon logo was developed to represent not only the children who, thinking deeply as they study and gain the necessary life skills and academic ability at our centre, but also the instructor who guides the children in their study. Just like the children, these instructors are also continually learning, growing and developing day by day. The "THINKING FACE" represents the face of everyone involved in Kumon.
The most pertinent question in Kumon is, "How can I help each child progress?" Everyone involved in Kumon takes education very seriously, seeks to learn from the children. The "THINKING FACE" represents the child thinking as he or she studies. It also represents the adults who think how they can implement improvements that will benefit each child. This includes the instructors, the staff members, and of course, the parents! The development of each individual child is always the goal of Kumon and those involved with Kumon in any way. Learning from the children and with the children, is what makes Kumon so effective.
The blue colour appearing in the logo represents honesty, intelligence, and integrity, as well as the colour of the sky. The sky of course, is universal to everyone in the world, and therefore represents the universality of the Kumon method. In addition, the "sky blue" used also represents Kumon's hope that the world will achieve unity, that the future of all children will grow on a grand scale and that all people all over the world will think deeply about education.
At our Kumon Award ceremony early this year (Jan 2009), some of the younger children were painting their own medals and many choose to paint the Kumon face ........................enjoy the many faces of Kumon as the children at the Kanata North Kumon Centre see it!
It's great that it doesn't represent a "sad face", and instead represents a "thinking face", but the logo should really be changed. My son is only 5 months old, but there is no way I would even walk into a Kumon with that logo. It would be like bringing your kid to a dentist whose logo was a child screaming and holding his mouth in pain (but the dentist says it represents serenity and strong teeth.)
ReplyDeleteHello Jeff,
DeleteYes I do agree with you that the Kumon face can be quite puzzling to figure out. It toook me a while too before I could accept it as a 'Thinking face" and I have been an instructor for over 6years. However when the children leave the centre with smiles, small or big successes to share, problems resolved, a challenge overcome; be it in math or reading, believe me the 'face' is the last thing on their mind.
When you child leaves the dentist's
office with the memory of gentle hands and a friendly smile, a gift toy (as most destists give), even the pain can bercome a dim memory.
Our centre is friendly and welcoming, our colors bright and sunny and our vission, "Every child an achiever".
I hope to welcome you and your son one day soon at my Kumon centre.
Sanjit Kaur,
Instructor