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GEORGE
E. AXTELLE
N e w York L:niversity, Nezu York, New I'ork
A M SURE that I have nothing new to
I am sure you all know young people
say to you tonight; that I am discussing of marked ability who have a certain ina matter to which you have given much tellectual recalcitrance in the typical school
thought. The reason for discussing it fur- situation. This does not spring from obther with you lies in the fact that I niay stinacy or social maladjustment. It springs
come to the problem from a somewhat dif- from an intellectual uncongeniality of the
ferent background and hence may bring school atmosphere. Schools are not organsome suggestions which may stimulate fur- ized to serve intellectual needs.
ther thinking on the problem.
I suppose this goes back to our mass
I shall assume that you are primarily production society with the conception of
concerned with the general educational interchangeability of parts. We have to
values of science education. It is these educate in multitudes and our population is
values which 1 wish to discuss.
highly mobile. W e must organize the
I believe these values may be fully ex- school program in courses and give credits
pressed in the term scientific temper. By and grades, in order that a course taken
this I mean something more than is com- in one school niay fit elsewhere. Thus the
monly associated with the expression demands of certification and mobility comscientific attitude. I mean all we associate pel (or seem to) us to model the educawith that expression and in addition an tional life after the industrial process. As
active component, a tendency to approach a result, our emphasis is upon memory and
life in an active experimental way, treating skill and specific content materials.
There is little place in all this for the
problems and situations with both scientific equipment and inquiry. It also means free roving spirit of curiosity and inquiry,
a lively interest and curiosity in those mat- the essence of the scientific temper. There
ters which affect us as human beings and is little in the school that permits the kind
as citizens of the modern world. It short. of spirit and atmosphere of scientists at
it means a generalized temper of curiosity work. In this connection, T would call
your attention to an article in the January
and inquiry regarding all areas of life.
I am sure you are all deeply dissatisfied issue of the Scientific Moiithly by Irving
with what we are now doing. Institutions Langmuir, Director of Research for Genare very complex and difficult to change. eral. Electric. H e therein described his
Educational institutions are so interlocked early years with the company and attributes
with other institutions that they are prob- his success to the freedom and stimulation
ably the most resistant to change. I wish given hini by the director. It is an adI could tell you how to change them in mirable picture of the atmosphere of
order that you could effectively develop the inquiry.
I would also like to quote from Einstein's
scientific temper in your students. This
however must wait upon your own inven- intellectual autobiography in which he tells
tiveness and continued pressure and prog- of his scientific training.
ress. My part is to help clarify and define
"In this 'field. however, I soon learned to scent
out that which was able to lead to fundamentals
the 'problem.
APIUL,19501
WHYTEACHSCIENCE
had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful
to me for an entire year. In justice, I must add,
moreover, that in Switzerland we had to suffer
far less from under such coercion, which smothers
every truly scientific impulse, than is the case in
many another locality. There was altogether
only two examinations ; aside from these, one
could do just about as one pleased. This was
especially the case if one had a friend, as did I,
who attended lectures regularly and who worked
over their content conscientiously. This gave
one freedom in the choice of pursuits until a few
months before the examination, a freedom which
I enjoyed to a great extent and liave gladly taken
into the bargain the bad conscience connected
with it as by far the lesser evil. It is, in fact,
nothing short of a miracle that the modem
methods of instruction have not yet strangled the
holy curiosity of inquiry ; for this delicate little
plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in
need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck
and ruin without fail. It is a grave mistake to
think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching
can be promoted by means of coercion and the
sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe that it
would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of
prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible,
with the aid oi a whip, to force the beast to
devour continuously, even when not hungry,
especially if the food, handed out under such
coercion, were to be selected accordingly.
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SCIENCE
EDUCATION
[VOL.34, No. 3