ARIUM System
The ARIUM
concept is a new system of teaching that involves a physical space that has
nothing to do with traditional classrooms and traditional lecturing teachers in front
of a class. It is based on a system of highly socializing facilities where
oral learning, essentially through "Socratic Dialogue", is as important as written learning. The system certainly does
not want to bring back the ancient tradition of exclusive oral learning, but
by the same token it draws a good middle way between that tradition and the
modern magisterial systems. It is also based on a special Community Life
Style (CLS) that forces constant exchange of views, ideas and feelings between
students, their masters, and all members present at the Arium, for both studying and general living purposes.
This CLS also somehow isolates students from
the disturbing city life for the bulk hours of their concentrated study time
and commands the application of a strong personal and civic discipline
expressed in the form of a pleasant internal decorum. In this way,
the
Learning Process becomes a Living Process, and that Living Process also becomes
in turn a
Loving Process, for both the conquest of knowledge and the parallel
development of friendship. Values of good civic behavior, discipline and decorum
become part of this special Learning Process. EthoDialogue (Socratic Dialogue) and
EthoJudo also form the EthoPlay
discipline that becomes eminently part of that Learning Process. Knowledge becomes felt and incarnated as
acquired through a high degree of direct human exchange, as opposed to only
through reading books in isolated areas, or listening passively to a class teacher
sitting distantly on a higher magisterial podium. With this special CLS,
Instruction becomes Education.
In an Arium, there are subject matter leaders, each hosting
a ‘Subject Matter Arium’ as an Arium Leader, and tutors under their
leadership assisting pupils at lower levels for that subject matter. In
turn, these pupils become themselves tutors of smaller Ariums for other
pupils at even lower levels.
This chain reaction works both ways, up and down. Pupils at different levels
present themselves to the relevant Arium for their subject matter, where
they may find a tutor to assist them if they so wish. If necessary, the
tu
tor will refer the pupil to another tutor at a higher level, until the
Arium Leader for this subject matter is reached. Alternatively, those
entering the ARIUM compound may choose a free room or workstation to study
in groups, small or big, or even on their own when necessary.
In addition to this special physical and social environment on the campus, the PythAcademia also integrates aspects of various special forms of learning, like certain elements of Superlearning, Supermemory, NLP, Hypermnesia, Autogenics, Hypnopedia, Suggestopedia, Memletics and Subliminal Learning, not to mention specially integrated elements of the EthoPlasìn Science of Being, like Music Harmonics, Holographic Molding, Visualization and the fine art of Ancient-Greece Mnemonics, that was taught ever since Pythagoras, and used most intensively by Plato, Aristotle and others up to Seneca, Aquinas and the Memory Magi of the Renaissance. Students learn how to learn, and how to learn better and faster, with joy, hopefully even fun, certainly always through intensive and pleasant socializing. From this point of view, the EΠAcademia is an institution that merges harmoniously Ancient Holistic Education & Modern Whole Brain Accelerated Learning.
Students
sleep in dormitories, on special pillows allowing, as a free choice, the listening
of texts to be memorized, or music for meditation or relaxation, like slow Baroque
string music. It is a place where they cannot
formally study, except possibly subliminally if they so wish, listening to
their own learning tapes, as an alternative to listening to approved
subliminal music. They thus must
do their 'formal' study in the
ARIUM where the PythaC ID also follows their study time spent on each subject
matter, be it studying on their own, in groups, or with tutors, be they
acting as receiving or as providing tutorship, receiving credits accordingly.
At the EΠAcademia there are no real
teachers and no real students, but only 'masters', 'leaders', 'tutors' and 'pupils'.
Leaders and tutors are not really teachers, but rather coaches. Their
approach in providing Accelerated Learning to their pupils, mainly through
Socratic Dialogue, or EthoDialogue, cannot be
compared to the traditional relation of classroom teachers and students, but only to
the relations of coaches training their athletes. Socrates never saw himself
as a 'teacher', but rather as a 'delivery' person, a kind of 'midwife'
ensuring the best 'birth' of all the capacities of the mind and soul of each
of his followers. Plato also made it clear that learning really means only
suddenly remembering something one already knew, through the proper triggers
and sparks produced in the mind of a pupil by the contact with a good master
in a relationship of Socratic Dialogue. Each 'student' is thus both a pupil and a tutor in turn at different
times. Each pupil receives free tutoring assistance but also offers in return his own
free tutoring or coaching assistance at a lower level. Availability of leaders and tutors is made known live, even in
advance, through an internal electronic communication system of the ARIUM
similar to flights information boards at an airport but also through the
Internet or through the use of an ARIUM Palmtop computer given to each
student or resident member.
Students
not offering their tutoring services for a minimum of hours per month will
reach a critical point where they may not be able to pretend themselves some
tutoring time from higher level tutors or leaders, and may be invited to
improve or gently leave the Campus after verification and confirmation of
this lack of collaboration. Appropriate
community life and socializing while studying are essential requirements to be
maintained at the Academy.
The
principle of an ARIUM is this: students basically try to study on their own
time and schedule, albeit in a socializing way, and at their own
pace, using tutors and the best books and multimedia training equipment,
but exchange tutoring services as required, giving themselves an
incredible amount of flexibility in studying their regular curriculum
and integrating all sorts of other extra training courses in sports,
artistic activities, EthoGloso,
EthoPlay and the
EthoPlasìn Discipline, Philosophy and
Science Of Being which are also required for their
graduation.
Students develop their own schedule and work at their own pace, but not at all in an isolated way (internally). They study at the ARIUM and mix constantly with other students at various levels, socializing and exchanging tutorship assistance up and down. No traditional classrooms with lecturing teachers! Each period not requiring group studying or full isolation must also take place at the fully equipped workstations of the central area of the ARIUM, and not in the isolation cells.
This requires a brand new system of space division for studying purposes. It is called an ARIUM System instead of a traditional Classroom System. The ARIUM typically has a wide open space as a central area in the middle, full of workstations, but is surrounded by a functional set of many smaller rooms for small group tutoring purposes of maybe 3 to 10 pupils at any given time. These smaller Ariums are themselves surrounded by even smaller Ariums at their back, with many of them making tutoring possible in the end on a one to one basis if required.
The ARIUM
includes a sufficient number of smaller rooms to assist pupils who need
isolated or group studying at any given time. In fact, each regular student
also has its own appointed “Isolation Cell” to be used in exclusivity
during daytime studying for the subjects or activities that do require full
isolation. The tiny isolation cells include a sofa/bed, 2
computer
workstations, a piano (or another musical instrument) and a small lavabo,
but no toilet. They can be used for live music instrument or loud language
studying, video-conferencing with tutors, meditation, even a day-nap (as
night sleep is done in a dormitory), let alone the custody of personal
belongings.
All space
occupation is centrally advertised and controlled electronically, including
the use of personal individual isolation cells. Free ARIUM rooms can be used
freely for group studying. Isolation cells can accept studying in two for
matters requiring full isolation in two.
The whole
ARIUM space system is centrally controlled through the use of the PythaC ID
card, including time spent as a pupil or as a tutor in any given room and in
which type of room, alone or with others. Merit credits are accumulated
accordingly.
There is a
system of electronic posts at each door controlling who comes in an Arium.
Then, within an Arium, there is an electronic slot to insert the PythaC at
each table post or workstation in the room. The back end head table slot is
for a Tutor. The side slots are for pupils. The front end table (by the
entrance) is a slot for an eventual Leader or Master who may come spontaneously or be
called in to host a session.
Each
presence in any given Arium, at any given time, gives at least one Merit
Credit to the person involved, be it as a pupil, as a tutor or as a leader,
depending on the slot used for the session. A tutor doing more than average
tutoring may get more credits per presence if he leads an Arium with more than 2
pupils.
In the
central open area, there are both tables with PythaC slots, or workstations
with PythaC slots. Tables are open space where there is a possibility to work with many books open at
the same time and a lot of space to handwrite. The workstations are equipped
with computers, with more limited space to extend books and to handwrite,
essentially to study or work electronically. All studying not requiring full
isolation must take place at these fully equipped tables or workstations or
alternatively in the surrounding rooms of various sizes for group studying.
The
centralized Merit Credits are evaluated automatically for anomalies and,
when found, the students and tutors involved are advised accordingly. In
front of these anomalies, leaders and management can take appropriate action
to correct the situation, up to and including expulsion from the university
if necessary.
An
important concept is that this kind of Arium studying then also becomes socializing and helping
each other, in perfect harmony with the basic civic education purposes of
the ARIUM and the mission of World Civic Wellness of its special university.
Students
can post their tutoring needs and tutors can post their tutoring offers.
They can do it on the Internet, or through their
personal
EthoPlasìn Palmtop
computer. This ARIUM Palmtop allows all students to always be in live touch
with the ARIUM at all times and take best advantage of it at all times. The
Palmtop includes internal and external mobile phone capacity.
To accommodate some of its university students in having access to faculties of the best universities around the world when necessary, special bilateral agreements have been made with many universities abroad. On that basis, students taking advantage of these universities have access to special studying website links of these universities through broadband Internet. They are in direct and constant touch with their own universities and teachers at all times and also have local tutors at the ARIUM who supervise them in collaboration with the authorities and teachers of their own universities. This way, they can integrate the best of their chosen universities to the best of the ARIUM, along with the additional formation in EthoPlasìn Discipline, the study of a music instrument, the universal EthoGloso language, EthoPlay and Meritocracy, let alone getting familiar with philoecosophical values and standards.
