Lately there has been a lot of discussion aimed at interpreting the underlying motives behind various initiatives in the education industry. It seems as though certain high-profile initiatives in education are suspected of being driven by ulterior motives. Many times, citizens suspect political motives when the initiatives are supported by politicians, regardless of their political affiliation, or nefarious commercial motives if the initiatives are supported by for-profit entities.
It may seem a little odd, but I get a great deal of comfort from the fact that eScholar has never had any particular alliance or support from anyone, except our customers. This complete focus on our customer gives us more freedom to stay focused on the task at hand, regardless of broader debates that might be out of our control.
Being a company that has to support itself has its challenges, not the least of which is creating value that customers recognize. Our customers, the vast majority of which are public schools and state education departments, in one form or another, drive everything we do, every day. Unlike charitable foundations, we have no ability to offer incentives for being involved in any particular initiative. Moreover, our work isn’t focused on supporting a particular political agenda. Either we do what our customers ask us to do and do it well, or we don’t survive as a viable company. In the end, it’s really that simple. Thankfully, our customers are intensely focused on helping students succeed and in doing so in the most efficient and effective manner possible. In my experience, the drivers behind our customers’ projects are always focused on that tenet. That makes it easy to listen to what truly is important.
At eScholar, we really don’t have to talk a lot. We just have to listen to the goals and objectives of our customers. We get to be creative about how we address those objectives and talk about how we do it, but there isn’t an agenda for us to push, because we make sure we reflect the same goals as our customers. At eScholar, we enjoy our freedom to listen.
