About CGAE
A different kind of
educational institution.
Founded in 1967, the Center for General and Applied Education is a Chicago-based non-profit devoted to one conviction: that integrated, hands-on learning transforms lives in ways that fragmented, subject-by-subject instruction never can.
Our Story
How CGAE came to be — and why it still matters.
The Center for General and Applied Education was born from a simple but urgent question: why do so many students leave school feeling less capable, less curious, and less confident than when they arrived?
After years of research and hands-on teaching experience, our founder Dr. Riaz-ul Haque, Ph.D. arrived at a clear diagnosis: the fragmentation of knowledge. Modern education breaks the world into isolated subjects — biology here, history there, literature somewhere else — and never shows students how it all connects. The result is confusion, disengagement, and a quiet sense of failure that follows learners for life.
CGAE was built to do the opposite. We present knowledge as one integrated, chronological story — the way the human mind is naturally wired to receive it. Every course, every workshop, every program is designed to show the connections between science, history, art, philosophy, and human experience.
Since 1967, we have served students of all ages, from all backgrounds, with one consistent promise: learning here will make the world make more sense.
CGAE Founded
Dr. Riaz-ul Haque establishes the Center in Chicago with a mission to integrate science, arts, and humanities into one coherent curriculum.
Curriculum Developed
The 150 Core Science Concepts framework takes shape — a distillation of human scientific knowledge into its essential themes.
Lab Format Established
Hands-on laboratory learning becomes the cornerstone of every CGAE program. No passive lectures — only active discovery.
Open to All
Six integrated courses, multiple workshops, and professional development programs — serving students, teachers, and curious minds of every age.
If you want to produce scatter brains, scatter the knowledge. If you want to produce wholesome and knowledgeable individuals, integrate, consolidate, and interconnect the knowledge.
— Dr. Riaz-ul Haque, PhD
The Founder
Dr. Riaz-ul Haque, PhD
Dr. Haque is an educator, researcher, and scientist whose decades of experience in teaching revealed a pattern he could not ignore: students were being failed not by their intelligence, but by the way knowledge was being delivered to them.
Trained in the sciences and deeply versed in philosophy, history, and the humanities, Dr. Haque developed a radical insight — that the human mind does not learn in fragments. It learns in wholes. It seeks patterns, connections, and coherent narratives. Subject-by-subject instruction actively works against this natural process.
His response was to build an institution from the ground up — one that would teach the way the mind actually learns. The Center for General and Applied Education is the result of that conviction, and it continues to be guided by his foundational principles today.
Dr. Haque has authored multiple monographs on educational reform, including What Really Ails Our Educational System and Reforming Education from the Bottom Up, both available through the Center.
What We Believe
The principles behind everything we do.
Learning is natural and involuntary
The human mind learns constantly — it is wired for survival through knowledge. Our programs align with this nature rather than fighting it.
Integration, not fragmentation
Knowledge presented as a connected whole is easier to understand, easier to remember, and far more useful than isolated facts and disciplines.
Overview before detail
The mind needs the big picture first. We begin every subject with a chronological overview, then fill in the details — never the other way around.
No age bars to learning
There are no prerequisites, no minimum ages, no maximum ages. Curiosity and commitment are the only requirements.
Science is a way of thinking
Science is not a collection of subjects — it is a method of questioning the world. We teach 150 core concepts that reveal how all human knowledge connects.
Hands-on learning is non-negotiable
Every program at CGAE is built around active, lab-based discovery. Passive lecture-style instruction is not part of our curriculum.
Affiliates & Partners
Part of a broader network of learning.
CGAE maintains relationships with educational institutions, research organizations, and community groups who share our commitment to integrated, accessible learning. Our affiliate network allows us to extend our reach and collaborate on curriculum development, outreach, and research.
If your organization is interested in partnering with CGAE, we welcome the conversation.
A personal testimony
An Inspirational story of Judy
A speech and hearing impaired individual with some thoughts on the existence of learning disabilities.
Judy came to me almost 20 years ago. She was hearing impaired and mute who had just a year ago graduated from high school. The State subsequently enrolled her in a janitorial training program figuring being deaf and mute what else she could ever become. The terms of the training program were that she will receive a six months training for a certain fee and then upon completion she will be placed in a job and training agency would receive the balance the training, i.e., the placement fee. . She completed the first part of the training earning a title of “Janitorial Technician” but when it came to finding her a job, they could not. So to complete the second part i.e., the placement part of the program and get paid for it, they sent her to work in a restaurant where, as I understand, she was put to wash dishes.
Come see the Center for yourself.
The best introduction to CGAE is a Saturday tour. Half a day, $30, and you'll understand why students keep coming back.