About The Elenchus Institute
Learning goes beyond test scores — it’s the foundation of a successful future. However, the current one-size-fits-all education system can hold students back from their full potential.
The Elenchus Institute strives to unleash it.
Academically holistic, Elenchus refines and enhances how students think and learn. Our process offers a framework that guides students how to understand, ask meaningful questions and challenge themselves. Each student is as unique as their learning style, and Elenchus offers tools to facilitate self-mastery that can be applied in any professional capacity. Curiosity builds skillful thinkers who can pursue and conquer their future.
Michael Mustard
Founder of The Elenchus Institute
After I completed a double honors in math and physics from UBC, I was diagnosed with ADHD. From my experience maneuvering our education system through a neurodivergent lens, I knew that teaching and tutoring were my calling. I founded the Elenchus Institute in 2010 to offer students like me a chance to flourish with customized attention.
That’s why we match our tutoring techniques to the individual abilities and learning style of each student. Elenchus students develop and strengthen their intellectual muscles for critical thinking, logical analysis, creative problem solving, and on-the-fly decision making. These tools are necessary to survive today’s entrance exams and thrive in tomorrow’s ever-changing professional world.
I hope you’ll join us at the Elenchus Institute.
Our Team
Raeth
History is the study of everything that’s ever happened ever.
It’s not just the history of geopolitics, or economics, or religion. It’s the history of fashion, the history of food, the history of physics and astronomy and engineering. A student of chemistry is a student of the Curies, William Ramsay & Glenn Seaborg. A student of mathematics is a student of Maxwell, Newton, Leibniz. A student of history is – to a certain point at least – a student of every other field of study as well, which is energizing, but can also sound rather daunting too. With me, no student will ever be bogged down with unnecessary overly specific detail that leaves them missing the big picture, and no assumed jargon or prior knowledge required, while also unlocking the unlimited potential of students with a passion for the field!
To those whose brains may work a little differently, discovering I was autistic at 19 made so much sense as it explained how neurodivergence can give you a learning superpower. Whilst I can empathize that going through the general education system might not always make it seem like it, the problem is never you, and with the right approach, you can turn what seemed like an obstacle into a gift you never knew you already had!
I fell in love with history in my teens & whether my students are fellow, passionate scholars of the past or just want to crack that pre-requisite, I’ll make it my mission to impart my knowledge in the way that best suits each individual student, no matter how they learn or how their brains work.
Nicholas Cragg
Having discovered this passion as a peer tutor at Rockridge as well as private tutoring through university, Nick opened Knack Academics in 2011.
Nick believes in the importance of having a balance between taking good in-class notes and effective studying, and in the interest of helping his students has created a free online collection of BC Curriculum-specific notes for Math, Physics, Chemistry and Calculus. By maintaining that crucial balance as well as bringing math into life outside of the classroom, Nick & Knack Academics strives to create success for lifelong learners.