It has become a widely known and successful educational program that encourages individualized learning and focuses on mastering the basics. In 1954, Toru Kumon wanted his young son Takeshi to be prepared for his future. By developing a unique step-by-step self-learning method, he gave Takeshi short, incremental assignments to complete each day that allowed him to master each concept before advancing to the next. This proved to be extremely successful, and by sixth grade, Takeshi was doing calculus. This method has since become known and adopted around the world as the Kumon Program. Through individualized learning, it focuses on mastering the basics and has helped millions of students in 50 countries.