Conventional Institutions Slow You Down

For most students, conventional education is problematic because it is set at one regulated pace. It is archaic, broad, and does little to meet your personal requirements. Students get bored and disinterested because they don't study what they want, and they aren't taught to learn in the right way.

The Accelerated Education Centre is built around this principle: the student is the most effective teacher. All of the information you need to become a premier expert in any field is already available to you. Jumping through conventional hoops, taking standardized curriculums and examinations, these things are inefficient, designed to stratify and delegate students. These programs are a remnant of the industrial era, not a tool of the information age.

 

Each learner is capable of "downloading" vast amounts of information from their environment into their brain, and gaining an understanding of the complex systems and challenges that surround them now and in the future. Current systems of education are actually distracting and diverting students from the information necessary to gain expertise in the areas that the student actually wants to learn.

 

The Accelerated Education Centre aims to maximize the student's drive to gain expertise. It encourages efficiency in Technological, Social, and Informational organization in order to provide a rapid learning environment.

 

For more information on the AEC philosophy for education, see www.futurescanada.ca/futureofeducation.htm.

We live in a credentialist world, and students are encouraged to pursue their accelerated education program in tandem with conventional schooling. The idea is to become a leading expert, which includes building the credentials associated with that.

Join the Accelerated Education Centre

 

Canadian Centres for Futures Education

Accelerated Education Centre

 

The Accelerated Education Centre was created for exceptional students who already excel in an academic environment and are capable of setting a quicker pace of their own. It is an opportunity to study in a vastly different environment from conventional schooling, in collaboration with a small group of similarly motivated learners. It is a tutoring program that allows these motivated students the power to become leaders and experts in their fields of study in a short period of time.

 

The structure of the program is flexible, depending on the student’s area of interest. The educational strategy is based on the following:

 

-         A foundation of futures education, applied foresight and strategy

-         Primary focus on any single area of expertise chosen by the student

-         Leadership, empowerment and implementation skills

-         Technological and institutional maximization

-         Access to other students and experts, networking knowledge

The course is driven through online communication and collaboration. Web space is required for the development of a website, and additional costs such as relevant software must be provided by the student. Students are also encouraged to raise interest in like-minded people in their area for the sake of collaboration and face-to-face interaction. Fellow students, siblings and parents will also benefit from shared knowledge and passing along the information and learning strategy from the Accelerated Education Centre is encouraged.

 

Acceptance

 

For the upcoming year beginning March 01, 2007 and finishing February 28, 2008, the Accelerated Education Centre is looking to accept 30 high school students from across Canada . Each applicant must include a letter of reference from an educator and a 1-2 page proposal for their field of study. This field of study can be as common or uncommon as the student wishes, as long as it is a sustainable future field or one that requires creativity, leadership and change. Those students who show interest, desire and motivation will be selected.

 

Should a single school or small area bring together 10 or more students, they will all be accepted due to the benefits of a localized group. Letters of recommendation and field proposals will still be required for academic purposes.

 

Should the applicant have trouble getting a recommendation it is advisable to submit a field proposal and a personal letter to Bob Stewart (director) explaining the lack of recommendation, outlining the student’s academic experience and their ability to engage in a personally demanding educational environment.

 

The Cost

 

Each accepted student will be charged a $240 (Canadian) tutoring fee for a full year in the program, (March 1, 2007 - February 28, 2008). For this fee, each student can expect an education in the fields described above, (foresight, strategy, leadership) as well as the direction needed to pursue and master their own ability to educate themselves efficiently. The program not only facilitates the student in how to become an expert at their field of study, but is also extended to any field of study. Once the method is learned and expertise is gained, the student can move on and apply the method to a new focus. This is the foundation for life-long education.

 

Also, the student will have access to the program director through e-mail and instant messaging which, though less personal, provides specialized direction and assistance to the student’s needs. The students will also be linked to one another, a benefit which grows in its value as each student becomes an expert in their field.

 

For an additional fee, the director will be available to travel and speak, put on classroom workshops or provide in-person tutoring.

 

The cost is very low for the upcoming year for a few reasons.

-         It is the first year of this educational strategy’s inception, placing importance on educational and experiential success rather than economic success.

-         The outcome has reciprocal value: while it is beneficial for the students to have access to the Accelerated Education Centre, it becomes valuable for the Centre to maintain a relationship with experts in the future. In turn it will become valuable for those experts to cultivate new relationships with students of the centre in cyclical fashion.

-         In terms of value added, education should have one of the highest rates of return. It is important to make a point of providing excellent education at low cost, since it should ideally be available regardless of income.

 

For these reasons the first year of operation will be at this low cost, and for those students selected for the first year, any increase in their tutoring fee will not exceed $100 to re-enroll.

 

 

About the Director

 

Bob Stewart has an undergraduate degree in political science from McMaster University . He is the founder and director of Canadian Centres for Futures Education (www.futurescanada.ca) and chairman on the board of directors for the Alliance for Capitalizing on Change. He is located in Calgary , Alberta .

 

 

 

 

Application

 

Applicants must include all relevant information, name, age, contact information, e-mail and current level of education with their field proposal.

 

Applications and letters of recommendation should be sent to:

 

Bob Stewart

14-1032 Cameron Ave. S.W.

Calgary , AB

Canada

T2T 0K4

 

Or e-mailed (with a scanned copy of the letter of recommendation) to futurescanada@yahoo.ca

 

The application deadline is February 15, 2007 and applicants will be notified of acceptance by March 1, 2007 and sent preliminary materials via e-mail. Payment will be expected by March 15,2007.

 

E-mailed applications are preferable. Due to business travel, mailed applications may take an extended period of time to receive a response.