Chair of the Board & Chief Executive Officer, Stride
Search every verified James Rhyu interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. James Rhyu, CEO of Stride Inc. (formerly K12 Inc.), has been discussing the company’s approach to education in several interviews in 2024 and 2025. Rhyu stated that he introduced the term "customer" to the company, arguing that students and families should be viewed as customers whose needs should guide educational offerings. He said that the company has invested more in the past four years than in any other four-year period in its history, focusing on teacher professional development, new curriculum, new technologies, and new platforms. Rhyu also commented on the role of technology in education, stating that while AI has potential, its current error rate is too high for K-12 learning, and that the company is working on small language models for personalized learning. He noted that an increasing number of families cite mental health as a reason for choosing virtual learning. Rhyu has also discussed the company's broader portfolio beyond virtual schooling, including career-connected learning options. He described the education system as politicized and called for depoliticizing it to focus on what is best for children and families. Rhyu acknowledged that the company made "bad acquisitions" in the boot camp space, which he said are now seeing dramatically lower volumes. In a separate appearance, Rhyu participated in a golf lesson with award-winning teen golfer Carter Bonas, stating that the company can learn from its students.
“My job is to try to meet the needs of those current and future customers and I think that will ensure great benefit for our shareholders and stakeholders.”
“How I view my lens to the job is really sort of a customer focus.”
“When I became CEO I introduced really the word, the term 'customer' into this company.”
“I think largely it should be introduced into the education vernacular more broadly, specifically in K‑through‑12 education.”
“You know we think of them as students — that's fine — and by the way they are students but they're also customers.”
“I introduced really the word the term customer into this company and I think largely it should be introduced into the education vernacular more broadly because specifically in K through 12 education, we think of them as students, that's fine, but they're also customers and I think if we thought of them that way, the es...”
“The education system in this country hasn't produced, I think, the outcomes societally that we want probably, and so I think coming from a different angle or different perspective has some benefits.”
“Sometimes what the customer wants isn't actually a healthy diet, and in our country, if we listen to our customers, a lot of families aren't in the position where the most important thing to them is getting an A and going to Harvard. Sometimes the more important thing to them is survival, actually the high school diplo...”
“I think sometimes we let politics creep too much into our education system and I think it's really unfortunate. Political agendas when I hear people talk about the education system and the students as if they're the afterthought because there's this other agenda that's more important, I think it's troublesome.”
“We've invested more in the past four years than in any other four-year period in history of the company across teacher professional development, new curriculum, new technologies, and new platforms.”
“If we're really going to personalize learning, I think we have to do it through technology. But I don't think it's just AI; it's including elements of AI in an overall user experience solution that is the answer.”
“Most kids who go to college don't use their college major in the job that they're in. So either way, they're going to have to obtain skills for some career that they're going to pursue, and the earlier they can acquire those skills, the better for their lifelong professional journey.”
“We did buy a couple of companies in the boot camp space and they were bad acquisitions unfortunately. The entire industry was losing money but had a lot of fanfare and popularity. Our volumes are down dramatically and I don't necessarily see a recovery.”
“An increasing number of families in programs we help manage are stating mental health as an issue with their child. Virtual learning is very attractive for families that have some of these issues because of the flexibility it offers.”
“The reality of our customers is they are using technology and in increasing ways, and whether the result of that is some of these issues or not, they are also using it to help with some of the solutions.”
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