Educating the Polymath

At first blush, the concept of educating a Polymath may seem oxymoronic. After all, Polymaths must first and foremost be autodidacts. While they may engage in directed learning for specific skill acquisition the choice is inherently subject specific rather than polymathic. In other words, there really isn’t any significant difference between “Web Page Design for Polymaths” and “Web Page Design for Everyone Else.”

For the most part, polymathy is resident in the synthesis, not in the individual courses of study. Consequently, everything we know about higher education is, at best, tangentially applicable to our needs. In our post, The Research Polymath, we stated that Research Polymathy should take place outside of traditional Academia due to the hostility that the various institutions have toward the practice of Polymathy. Additionally, because we are going to need to start from scratch with a pedagogical design, the actual structure of an Academy of a Polymathic Institute will undoubtedly be incompatible in its structure with the traditional colleges and universities.

Because the Polymathic Method is inherently autodidactic, one of the cornerstones of an Academy of a Polymathic Institute will be the certification of autonomously learned material. It will often be the case that those who interact with a Polymath will want an outside assessment of their knowledge and skills. These may include prospective investors, research funding agencies and individuals or potential collaborators. The certification of specific knowledge and skill sets by Polymathic Institute Senior Members will amplify the opportunities to utilize credit received in a traditional university environment and proficiency testing services, such as CLEP to meet the knowledge and skill acquisition requirements of the chosen degree program.

In addition to assisting in assessing course equivalent proficiencies, a Polymathic Institute should certify at the degree level, as well. Specific certifications may include various Masters and Doctoral level categories. We imagine the most widely acquired would be a Masters of Enterprise Polymathy. For many pundits, talkers, bloggers and community designers, a Masters of Social Polymathy may be useful. For Research Polymaths, a PhD of Polymathy may demonstrate to potential constituencies and markets that an advanced level of proficiency in the Polymathic Method has been attained.

The certification process we imagine would involve two or three steps. The first step would be to interact with a certification design consultant who will assist the student in defining the degree certification to be acquired. In many cases, this step can be abbreviated or even completely eliminated by accepting a previously designed certification, such as a Masters in Enterprise Polymathy. However, it would also allow for a ‘design your own degree’ option.

The second step is to obtain evidence of acquisition of a basic knowledge and skill set characteristic of the certification being acquired. This will involve accumulating transcripts from traditional universities already attended, taking CLEP assessments and demonstration of proficiency made directly to the Polymathic Institute or other non-traditional institutions, such as Project Polymath courses.

Third, because a Polymathic Institute will be conferring graduate, rather than baccalaureate, level certification, a thesis will be produced and defended.

An important benefit of attending a first tier University is the network of contacts that are made. While the benefit is informal at a traditional institution of higher education, it will be something more properly formalized at a Polymathic Institute. In other words, the primary value of matriculating at a Polymathic Institute may, in the end, be vested in the alumni association. We have seen in several of our posts that the adage, ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ is central to the ultimate success of Polymathy as a set of viable career options.

Lastly, we assume, especially for the Doctoral level candidates, that a thesis advisor/mentor will be acquired through the Institute. The advisor, as in traditional educational institutions, will suggest approaches, knowledge and skill acquisition requirements and strategies and provide critiques intended to lead to an eventual successful thesis defense.

As we have stated in the past, we are firmly supportive of Project Polymath and their efforts to create a Polymathic University. It appears from their current direction that they can, in the very near future, provide an additional source of training and proficiency assessment for the Polymathic Institute certification candidate. We sincerely hope that the participants in a Polymathic Institute can bring value to Project Polymath, as well.

We will not make a distinction between our Founders’ Circle, the Academy and Alumni association, and execute them all under the general rubric of Polymathica Institute. We do so because the term 'institute' may refer to an institution of learning and research or an institution promoting a cause. In addition to providing content, networks, products and services to a community of refinement and erudition, Polymathica Institute will do both of these.

The structure of the Academy is totally new, or, one may argue, as ancient as the Academy of Plato. As we have stated earlier, there will be a nominal general access charge to enter the Institute and, then, each individual educational process will be negotiated between a student Member and a Senior Member qualified to provide the service. The only direct involvement of the Polymathica Institute in the Academy will be the general oversight of organizational development and the credentialing process to assure that the various credentials conferred maintain the highest level quality and, thereby, reputation.

We expect that the earliest students to matriculate in the Polymathica Academy will be from one of three categories. First will be individuals of means who want to be able to say, “I am a Polymath and I have a piece of paper to prove it.” They should also enjoy the challenge of meeting the requirements of receiving the certification. Second will be young people who, because of their brilliance, have not thrived in traditional educational institutions and wish to pursue a non-traditional polymathic career path more suitable to their intellectual abilities. Third are career changers who realize that they, because of their intellectual abilities, interests and polymathism, are not likely to progress much past lower, technical management levels in traditional, Industrial Age enterprises.

There is, of course, the matter of the cost of the credentialing. This is difficult to determine with precision, because each phase of the process will be individually negotiated and the amount of outside help each student will require will be different. The cost of access to the Polymathica Institute over a two year certification program will be about $1,500. A reasonable cost of proficiency assessment may be another $1,500 - $2,500. CLEP assessments cost $72 ($77 after July 2010) each. Various universities offer college level credit via assessment of 'life experience.' Additionally, we anticipate that some Polymathica Institute Members may be qualified to write and administer a private knowledge acquisition assessment. Custom made tests are likely to be expensive. However, ones that are commonly needed, such as various areas of Statistics, may be relatively inexpensive. We would expect a thesis defense to cost between $1,500 and $5,000 depending upon its complexity. The cost of a mentor/advisor may be another $3,000-$5,000. PhD level thesis defense and mentor/advisor arrangements could be expected to be in the high end of the range with Masters of Enterprise Polymathy could be expected to be in the lower end of the range.

This suggests that a graduate level certification in Polymathy may cost between $5,000 and $15,000. This compares with the average cost of an MBA of $40,000. As to unaccredited educational services, The Singularity University offers a 9-day executive program for $15,000 and a 10 week summer Graduate Studies Program for $25,000. So, we see that the Academy, by its organizational structure, will be able to provide student Members with cost effective educational credentials and Senior Members with a good professional income.

As we have mentioned in a prior post, we strongly encourage individuals of means to join the Polymathica Institute and fund scholarship and polymathic research. While Polymathica is not properly organized to create and administer such programs, its Members can and should create them.

Because every credential is, in a fashion, custom made and, in our opinion, any attempts at obtaining accreditation from a traditional agency would be futile, we can begin the Academy as soon as we have willing students and mentors within the Institute. If you are interested in gaining Polymath certification or providing graduate level proficiency or academic services, contact Fellows@polymathica.com. As soon as there is sufficient interest, we will create a task force to implement the Academy.