Math, science and literature will be mandatory, but Banerjee said the school will likely not require pupils to learn about subject matters that they "see no use for."
He said higher math falls into the category of potentially not being useful for some students.
"That's not the life skills I'm talking about. I'm talking about the life skills you and I use in our daily lives," Banerjee said.
"A lot of schools teach kids a lot of subjects that they'll never use as adults," he said. "We're not going to require all kids to study these topics. We will have them for the kids that are interested in them, ... but we're not going to make everyone study them. I think this is something that turns kids off, that they're forced to study things that they see no use for."
Instead, Banerjee wants the school to have a focus on the Socratic method of instruction and dive into basic math, science, history, an introduction to literature, art and music. He said he wants to encourage students to take responsibility for what they are interested in learning and to pursue their intellectual curiosity instead of having classroom curriculum tailored to teaching specifically for tests.
Banerjee said some details are still in flux, but tuition is expected to be around $12,000 annually. During the first year the school will be available to students in middle school and high school, but staffers hope to offer elementary-level education in the future.
An exact address will be determined at a later date. www.therschool.org
