Thinker Education is the place where students of all ages join what Mortimer Adler and his colleagues at Encyclopedia Britannica called “The Great Conversation” – the dialogue of the ages about The Big Ideas of our day – and where students participate in the country”s fastest-growing independent scholarship fund.

The charter of our neo-university is to create a place where the rising generation can think critically and freely about The Big Ideas that are shaping the way people view the world (and their place in it). We curate the world’s largest collection of learning experiences relating to The Big Questions, with more than 100 multi-media courses online available in 2018 – all free to any student, anywhere, anytime .

Archimedes famously claimed, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”  Thomas Jefferson claimed that “The good opinion of mankind, like the lever of Archimedes, with the given fulcrum, moves the world.”  We believe that the fulcrum is a commitment to authentic and respectful and humble interaction with the ideals that inspire us.  The levers are The Big Ideas with which we all must engage.

Each Thinker Education experience takes the typical student 2-3 hours to complete and is framed around a question.  These questions all relate to what we call “The Fulcrum Ideas®” – the key concepts which, indeed, we embrace or reject and thereby move the world. Each experience is designed to help the student-participant think for themselves and decide on their own, even if it is a one-sided presentation of an under-represented point of view.

Thinker Education is also designed to help connect the generations in the discussion of The Big Ideas in ways that foster relationships, and encourage people to live the well-examined life.

Thinker Education is administered by Thinker Education Foundation, a 501(c)3 public foundation. We administer two kinds of scholarships for students who are active in the Thinker Education community. UP! Scholarships are set up by parents, grandparents and mentors for a specific student whom they designate. Thinker Education Scholarships are open to eligible high school and university students, based on points earned by students during defined periods of time. Some Thinker Education Scholarships have also been established specifically for students at certain schools, churches, and places of employment.

Following a successful 1.0 Beta launch of its online community in 2011, Thinker Education has engaged thousands of students in focus groups, beta testing, and the registration process – and is now engaged with students in every state and on campuses and in homes all across the country.