You can already see how the Academy will become the next buggy whip.

A couple of years ago I saw on a TV science show (Nova, if I recall correctly) a scientist testing a robotic arm and hand. He was developing this to help the paralyzed and amputees. He had electrodes connected to his head and soley with his thoughts he was able to move the arm and flex the fingers. Fascinatingly, there wasn’t a direct connection between his brain and the arm. The signals were routed through the Internet.

At some point a scientist will determine not only how to send information from the brain through the internet but will reverse the flow. Then schools (if they survive at all) will look very different. The academy will lose it’s gatekeeper status.

Check out Ray Kurzweil’s “The Singularity is Near” for a more comprehensive description. Per Ray the timeframe for this is about 20 years.