Raven's take.
What is the point of this academy? What is the draw of the 3 paths? Why, is one aspect a lifetime of training? 

Philosopher -> Initiate -> Master

The above is the progression of a dedicated member of an aspect here at the Force Academy (FA).

We all come in at the level of philosopher with regard to the FA. There is something inside of each of us that resonates first with the Force and then with one of the aspects. The persons energy builds, and an awareness of being and doing more with ones life builds. A connection with one of the paths grows.

When a person enters an aspect they are still The Philosopher. They have an idea. They may have great rhetoric. They may even have life experience that matches them with said aspect, but they are still The Philosopher.

When a person commits to a path they are committing to themselves. They are committing to something greater that they want to be so, in the future, the can do something greater in the world. The process for each person is different. 

Some people know the bigger life they wish to live and so they start at a true initiate process. Others are lost and live in a vague random ideal of some general want, or need, or fear. The people in the latter group have a long way to go before they become an initiate. They tend to aspect hop. They more than likely argue almost anything. They may leave and return over and over again. They will remain a philosopher of the aspect(s) until they become clear, and find their definite purpose, choose and commit.

As an initiate here, the person commits to: a path, a desire for themself, and a vision of the world (personal world) they wish to live in. The job of the aspect is to assist the person in first seeing their current identity as insufficient to ever attaining their vision and supporting them as they deconstruct mind and body habits that control said identity. The aspect encourages the creation of the new identity that has the will and ability to step into and live the vision that was created by The Philosopher. The identity MUST be deconstructed to make room for a new identity to grow.

Most people do not make it deep into the initiate process. The idea of letting go and deconstructing a comfortable, known, identity that has served them up to their current state stops many. After all, who are they if not their identity? 

The aspect’s job is to hold space for the brave who are willing to, not only ask that question, but also wish to have the vision so badly that they are willing to become the person who can inhabit that place and space of that vision.

It is not for the aspect to hold the vision, or for the aspect to create the new identity that the person chooses to become. The aspect is only there to assist the person in seeing themselves clearly, and to allow that person to choose who they wish to become and to manifest their vision and their world.

Those that dive into the initiate role will change! They are not the same person they were when they joined the aspect. They become a deeper, more actualized individual. They become a Knight (or whatever teacher role an aspect chooses to use).

The knight has shifted identity, in a valid creative way and changed their personal world in some way, but this shift isn’t the end. Creating a new identity is easy, making it stick and become habit, that’s work! Making this change so that the new identity is unconsciously lived is work. If the work isn't continued the Knight will fall back into old habits of the old identity. That's why every book in history preaches consistency over anything else.

For the knight a shift happens, through consistency, where the new identity becomes the natural state. The body and mind work in an entirely new way that the old identity couldn’t dream of. And this energetic state is one that the knight has consciously cultivated to handle the vision that The Philosopher wanted to live. This state is mastery of a world that was only philosophy at one point. The identity is purposely built and comfortable and that identity can create and live in the once outrageous vision.

Once this occurs, the person now has the tools to envision more and change identities or pieces of identities to keep building their worlds in whatever direction they wish. Some Knights stay at the FA and lead in the aspect, adding their unique tools and lessons to the aspect; these members become the Masters in their aspects. Most others go and live life. 

This is the purpose of the FA from this Black Birds perspective.