Applied Scholastics(1) is an international educational organisation that is non-religious (secular) in nature. It was established by American educators in 1972 to promote and develop programmes of effective education for educators, business trainers, tutors, parents, children and any individual who needs improved study skills to enhance their scholastic, business and personal activities. In the United States, it is a non-profit(2), tax-exempt(3) corporation(4).

In Perth, Western Australia, it is a non-profit, charitable institution having its Constitution approved and endorsed by DOCEP (Department of Consumer and Employment Protection). Therefore, we are legally incorporated. 

It was established in 1972 by a group of American educators, teachers and college professors who had seen substantial improvement in their students’ learning abilities when they were taught utilising the educational discoveries of Mr L Ron Hubbard. They set up an organisation in order to be able to reach students beyond their immediate classrooms and bring them the benefits of these educational tools. Over the last thirty years the organisation has grown into an international network of more than 760 community literacy programs, tutoring centres, private schools and teacher training programs, all of which use Mr Hubbard’s study methods.

The job of Applied Scholastics is to place the Study Technology developed by humanitarian, philosopher and educator Mr L. Ron Hubbard into the hands of the world’s students and educators. It provides educators, governments, vocational trainers, community groups, parents and students with the learning tools they need to overcome the barriers of illiteracy and to enhance their abilities to understand and utilise written materials which they must deal with in all aspects of their lives.

Study Technology, researched and developed by Mr L. Ron Hubbard, is a unique programme enabling a student to overcome the basic barriers to studying and learning any subject, so that he can understand and retain the data which he is trying to absorb and can effectively put into application the material which he has been studying.

Study Technology is an exact system which teaches one how to learn. It includes the identification of the specific barriers to learning, the tools to help a student grasp the materials being studied, and the means to organise the basic learning environment toward the attainment of better results for both the student and teacher. It can be used to create a highly efficient and self-paced(5) learning environment. Understanding and learning to bring about an ability to apply what one has learned is fundamental to Study Technology.

Study Technology gives the student the techniques and understanding which enable him to take increased responsibility and control of his own learning process.

Applied Scholastics is an independent, non-religious (secular) charitable educational organisation utilising Mr Hubbard’s writing in the field of education. We are licensed by the Association for Better Living and Education International (ABLE)(6) to use Mr Hubbard’s educational methods and Study Technology in education-related fields. In turn, Applied Scholastics licenses organisations which directly apply the Study Technology in schools, training programmes and tutoring projects in many countries and communities.

Applied Scholastics does not promote or recommend any religious path. Indeed, throughout the world, Applied Scholastics affiliated organisations deliver Study Technology to members of all faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Mr Hubbard’s Study Technology is a vital tool for the learning of any subject. As the name implies, it is a technology of study, used to improve one’s ability to understand and apply whatever information one is seeking to learn. It is a wholly secular technology for use by any person in any field.

The Church of Scientology and its members have been extremely assistive in the areas of support, volunteering and finance in order to help Applied Scholastics to achieve its purpose of providing strong and effective educational methods to any who thirst for knowledge throughout the world. We are thankful for their support and proud of our mutual work for the benefit of others.

Not only was Mr Hubbard one of the most prolific(7) and successful wordsmiths(8) of all time, with a long history of publications in diverse media and numerous best-selling fiction books, he was also extremely well grounded in the philosophies and humanities and the rigorous(9) methodology(10) of the physical sciences. As a man of letters(11) as well as a researcher into the problems of the human condition, as early as 1950 Mr Hubbard expressed deep concern over the poor quality of our so-called "modern" education. At that time he warned:

"Today's children will become tomorrow’s civilisation. The end and goal of any society as it addresses the problem of education is to raise the ability, the initiative and the cultural level, and with all these the survival level of that society. And when a society forgets any one of these things it is destroying itself by its own educational mediums."

Later, in the mid-1960’s when attempting to teach advanced and supposedly highly literate students about his discoveries relating to the mind and spirit, Mr Hubbard realised that the lack of an actual technology of how to study was preventing their rapid and effective duplication(12) and understanding of the materials which they were attempting to study. By that time it had become increasingly apparent that the deficiencies in the day’s educational programmes were leading to increasing rates of functional illiteracy(13) and generating mounting social problems. So Mr Hubbard embarked on a programme of step-by-step research into the area of education. The product of that research is the Study Technology promoted today by Applied Scholastics and used by teachers, students and individuals throughout the world.

No. Study Technology delivered by Applied Scholastics and its licensed organisations is wholly secular. The technology exists for a teacher to use in presentation of whatever subject is being taught and for students to use to improve comprehension and the ability to apply whatever is being studied. Whether it is the teaching of basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills, languages, history, social science or the physical sciences, Study Technology in use by both the teacher and the student, improves the student’s grasp of an ability to use the subject. Consequently, it facilitates any curriculum(14) chosen by a school or school system.

Students who learn and apply Study Technology consistently achieve remarkable improvements in their scholastic progress. Numerous studies have demonstrated these results:

In Mexico City, for example, Study Technology was introduced into a private high school in which one class had a 95% failure rate on their materials. After the students learned to use Study Technology, the same class achieved a 90% passing rate.

A study undertaken in England found that students improved their reading levels by 1.3 years after only ten hours of study using Mr Hubbard’s study procedures.

A literacy programme in South Africa produced an average gain in reading level of 2.25 years. In the same country, the pass rate of students enrolled in 19 government schools increased from 43 to 78 percent after the Study Technology had been in use for only six months. Also in Southern Africa, Education Alive, an Applied Scholastics affiliated(15) organisation, introduced Study Technology into a teacher’s college. The dropout rate for teacher trainees fell dramatically, to only 2 percent, as a direct and immediate result of the programme.

In Los Angeles, California in the United States, students at a school which uses Study Technology throughout its curriculum regularly score 30% above the national average on pre-college aptitude tests(16). Their 4th grade students consistently score two or more grade levels above the norm in reading, mathematics and language on standardised achievement tests(17).

Study Technology is used throughout the world. Applied Scholastics, itself, has a network of over 614 centres and schools in more than 60 countries. Literacy tutoring centres operate in the inner-city areas in major U.S. population centres such as Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. Currently more than 30 similar community education programmes are delivering this technology in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand. These programmes, bringing education to deprived ethnic groups and indigenous(18) races, give them the vital skills and basic education necessary for an individual to operate successfully in today’s societies.

In terms of sheer numbers, in South Africa, Education Alive has introduced Study Technology to more than 1.5 million students and to tens of thousand of teachers. Since 1984 Applied Scholastics has trained more than 5,000 teachers in the People’s Republic of China. Since 1994, over 10,000 teachers in Zimbabwe(19) have received training in Study Technology. Since 1995, over 10,000 teachers and students of schools and colleges in Mexico have been trained on the basics of Study Technology. In the United States, over 4,000 teachers have been trained in the use of Study Technology in their classroom. In addition, at the request of the Secretary of State for education of the Gambia(20), Study Technology has begun to be implemented(21) in the whole school system with the initial training of over 5,500 teachers - almost all the English speaking teachers in the country. Similar implementations have since been requested in Sierra Leone(22) and Liberia(23).

This is only a sampling of the international use of Mr Hubbard’s Study Technology, which Applied Scholastics and its affiliated organisations deliver around the globe.

The answer to both questions is “No!” Applied Scholastics programmes service both adults and youth; they provide the vitally needed technology of how to study effectively to people at a wide range of educational levels. True, Applied Scholastics programmes are often established to provide education and literacy skills to portions of the population which have been routinely excluded from such knowledge due to the decay of school systems, the rot in our inner cities, and, often, to the impact of prejudice on providing services to an area’s population. But Applied Scholastics has a broader reach than these vital activities. Persons seeking to learn a foreign language find that Study Technology helps them to open this door. Academically advanced students - such as those in college and universities - find Study Technology invaluable as they struggle with the extensive and often complex materials in their chosen courses of study.

Numerous businesses around the world have found Applied Scholastics affiliated programmes to be essential in educating their labour forces and in establishing and raising the company productivity.

Books may be purchased from any Applied Scholastics Centre and Correspondence Courses on Study Technology are also available. All students enrolling on a Correspondence Course will be required to submit practical lessons via email, facsimile or the postal service. The Applied Scholastics Instructor marks your lessons and, if necessary, will inform you of any errors or omissions so that you can return to your materials, find what you have missed and resubmit that lesson. The Instructor will ensure you complete your Course and receive a completion Certificate. Click on the Correspondence Courses link for further details.

1. Applied Scholastics: Applied Scholastics means education (scholastics) put to practical use (applied).
2. non-profit: describing a type of corporation (legally formed group) where the profit (which is the amount left after the usual expenses and salaries) is put toward the group’s objectives (in our case educational) instead of the profit being distributed to an owner or shareholders. In many instances, because they do charitable work which improves the world we live in, non-profit groups are or can be recognised as exempt from taxation.
3. tax-exempt: recognised by tax agencies as not having to pay income tax because of the non-profit educational nature of the group.
4. corporation: a group that is regarded as a single body by law, with its own assets and liabilities, separate from those of the individual members of the group.
5. self-paced: guided by individual progress. He was very pleased that the course was self-paced as he could spend more time in areas which particularly interested him.
6. Association for Better Living and Education International (ABLE): an international, non-profit, public- benefit organisation dedicated to creating a better future for our children and our communities.
7. prolific: producing a great many works. With over 100 books published, he was considered to be a highly prolific author.
8. wordsmith: highly skilled writer; expert on words. After over 50 years as a widely read author, he earned praise as a wordsmith from one and all.
9. rigorous: very accurate; precise. In order to complete the formula, there were rigorous directions to follow.
10. methodology: systems and procedures. Scientific methodology includes accurate observation and record keeping throughout.
11. man of letters: a writer or a scholar. William Shakespeare would be considered to be a man of letters.
12. duplication: taking in the words and symbols as they were written. His duplication of the information on the page was clearly in error.
13. functional illiteracy: the condition when an individual appears able to make his way in life, yet is actually so deficient in reading and writing that he is essentially illiterate.
14. curriculum: all the courses of study offered by an educational institution. The school designed and adopted a curriculum very strong in the basics and the arts.
15. affiliated: connected or associated. The group in New York is affiliated with a large international organisation.
16. The test used was the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT): the SAT is a standardised, multiple-choice test used by most U.S. colleges and universities for admissions purposes.
17. The test used was the California Achievement Test (CAT): the CAT is a traditional assessment series that provides comprehensive evaluation of student achievement.
18. indigenous: originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment; native. The Navajo Indians are indigenous to the South Western United States.
19. Zimbabwe: formally called Rhodesia, Zimbabwe is located in South Central Africa.
20. implemented: put into practical use. Study Technology was implemented throughout the school district.
21. The Gambia: The Republic of the Gambia is a small country located in Western Africa.
22. Sierra Leona: a country in Western Africa on the Atlantic coast.
23. Liberia: a country in Western Africa, located on the Atlantic coast just south of Sierra Leone.