REPORT
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ANALYTCAL
CHEMISTS
Education for Productivity in the Sciences by Dr. J e r o m e B. W i e s n e r , Director, Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President, White House, Washington, D. C. I X APPROACHING THIS MANY FACETED SUBJECT, I would like to begin by denning the general background for the approach adopted in the following remarks. I t is useful to do this for the reason t h a t the choices of emphasis which are unavoidable in a necessarily limited t r e a t m e n t are then clearer. In summ a r y , the elements defining this background are: the contrast between the rapidity of change in science and technology and the responses the educational system can make to meet t h e m in our society ; the more important difference in this respect between our society and m a n y other countries, including those in the Soviet Bloc; and estimates of some of the main difficulties we face in developing solutions for the problems identified. I t is useful to discuss each of these elements briefly before taking u p the substance of our subject. T h e rapid rate of scientific and technological change has been characterized by an increasing profusion of novel concepts and theories, new materials and devices, and new and rapidly changing production and utilization techniques in systems of ever increasing complexity. T h e consequences of these trends include not only accelerated technical obsolescence of the material basis of our society, but also—as I am sure this group fully realizes—of much of the specialized training of the manpower sustaining it. F o r example, although it was possible to train an engineer twenty-five y e a r s ago on the assumption t h a t liis skills would be useful for most, if not for all, of his professional life, such an approach to engineering education is altogether unrealistic t o day. Ten years is perhaps the longest time interval a typical research A x/H'cch delivered by Dr. IViexner on June 14 at New York I'niversity at the opening meeting of a Conference on Education for Creativiti/ in the Sciences.
or design engineer can expect to be continuously useful today without a major effort to refurbish and u p date both his basic and his specialized professional skills. Consequently, it is not surprising to learn t h a t the demand in some of the main technological fields for recent graduates of the better engineering schools exceeds t h a t for experienced engineers having, unavoidably, more dated academic training. F a c t s such as these suggest a need not only to review what is now t a u g h t with the aim of developing skills which would tend to remain productive longer, but also to consider the problem of w h a t the educational system can contribute to academic updating of the specialists it produces from time to time during their careers. Another result of the increasingly rapid expansion of scientific and technical fields, has been a general rise in the overall demand for scientists and engineers, particularly for those with higher academic training. The increasing \ r aluc attached to graduate training reflects perhaps not only the growing complexity of these fields, but also the tendency for the rate of obsolescence in professional skills, particularly in industrial applications, to be lower for those with broader and more fundamental academic training. In contrast, it is i m p o r t a n t to realize t h a t there has been no a p preciable increase in the rate of change of that p a r t of the general institutional framework of our society which could generate adaptive adjustments to the explosive character of growth in science and technology. For example, in spite of clearly greater need for more of our ablest youth to enter these fields, there is nowhere evident in our society an a d e q u a t e appreciation of scientific occupations relative to others, either in terms of general social status, or of the scale
of material rewards. Furthermore, although it seems to be generally understood t h a t superior intelligence and training among our citizens arc national resources of more fundamental and essential value for the long run t h a n the material endowments of our land, general social arrangements for ensuring t h a t these resources are not grossly wasted have not greatly changed in perhaps several generations. For example, as of today, more t h a n 23 million Americans 18 years of age and older, have had less t h a n eight years of schooling, and as m a n y as 1 ''-2 of the academic upper quarter of our high school graduates are either not interested in going, or cannot afford to go, to college. W e must fully realize t h a t our currently dominant world position in science and technology has been challenged by the across-the-board competition with the Communist world and the growing technological prowess of many of our friends and allies. W e are committed to demonstrate visibly the quality of our forms of social and economic organization, including those responsible for our educational system, and for scientific and technological progress. There are m a n y other, and possibly more important, reasons for making an all-out effort to improve the quality and q u a n t i t y of our scientific technical m a n power force. Considering first our own opportunities, as our modern industrial society develops, productivity increases, so t h a t men are increasingly freed from the need to do physical labor, even skilled m a n ual labor. F o r t u n a t e l y , the need for intellectual workers, teachers, scientists, engineers, m a t h e m a t i cians, doctors, managers, and other professional workers is growing apace. This is a process which we should applaud and encourage because, as a consequence, an increasing fraction of our people will be VOL. 35, NO. 10, SEPTEMBER 1963 ·
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working at a level determined by their inherent abilities. This growth also means each year there arc more people available to do more things, and the national problem is to ensure t h a t they make a maximum contribution to the national goals. Overseas more and more countries in the Free World and in the Communist Bloc are becoming major exploiters of science and technology so t h a t it will be increasingly difficult to maintain our leadership. Finally, within the Soviet Bloc the social valuation of education and, in particular, of scientific and technical knowledge, has been raised to the highest levels both as to social status and material reward. Accordingly, the motivations for Communist youth to undertake the rigors of the extensive training required for professional excellence in science and technology are much more intense and compelling t h a n we have, perhaps, been either willing or thus far socially able to provide for our youth. P a r t l y as a result of this, as was pointed out by Dr. Nicholas D e W i t t in his study for the National Science Foundation ("Education and Professional Employment in the USSR," 1961), the Soviet world has been able to produce, during the last sev-
eral years cadres of scientists and engineers in much larger numbers t h a n we have either thought necessary or been able to produce ourselves. There is every reason to believe that these large numbers of trained men have not been obtained at the cost of lower minimum standards as to natural abilities or of levels of training in scientific and technical skills, than characterize our own much smaller totals. There is some disagreement regarding the ultimate employment of this large group of technically trained graduates, and there is at least some evidence t h a t people so trained play a much wider role in Soviet society than in ours. Consequently, only a fraction of the technically trained manpower in the Soviet Union is professionally active. Even if this is so, the larger initial pool available to them is pertinent from the point of view of today's discussion, namely creativity, because the bigger pool will probably result in the identification of a greater number of outstandingly creative people. Our present estimate is t h a t there will be a substantial increase in university enrollments in this country during the next decade and that this will result in a corresponding increase
Dr. J e r o m e B. Wiesner is Director of the Office of Science and Technology of t h e Executive Office of t h e President of the United States in the White House, Washington, D.C. He was appointed to this position by President Kennedy on July 20, 1962, after serving as the
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in engineering and science graduates. Unless this actually occurs, the large annual increments in the Communist pool of highly trained specialists will produce a disturbing disparity between their technical manpower resources and ours. Reflecting on the overall picture just described, it is important to note t h a t the situation can only be modified by adaptation in our educational system. In a very real sense, we thus appear to be beset with difficulties which seem resolvable only by some successful bootstrap operation. M a n y of our problems stem from an educational system which has gotten out of step with the rapidly changing needs of our society, while this system is itself the main tool available for bringing about the sorts of changes needed to correct the undesirable trends. B u t even granting t h a t we will be able to find bootstraps to pull ourselves up in this way, can we afford the time t h a t this kind of process might take? At the very least, one complete educational generation would seem to be required for such a process, t h a t is, a total of 16 to 20 years ; and it would seem doubtful t h a t we can afford to wait this long to secure major reversals in current trends.
President's Special Assistant for Science and Technology since January 1961. Dr. Wiesner was born in Detroit, Mich., in 1915. He received the B.S. in Electrical Engineering f r o m the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1937 and t h e M.S. in 1938 and the Ph.D. in 1950 from t h e same institution. After graduation f r o m the University, Dr. Wiesner remained there as a staff m e m b e r for two years. In 1940 he was appointed Chief Engineer of t h e Library of Congress in Washington, D . C , and while there he developed the recording and acoustical laboratory and did some record preservation work. In 1942 he joined the staff of the radiation laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he remained until 1945 when he went to work at the University of California's Los Alamos Laboratory. In 1946 Dr. Wiesner returned to MIT and in 1952 he became Director of its Research Laboratory of Electronics. He remained at MIT until he received t h e Washington a p p o i n t m e n t in 1961. Dr. Wiesner has done research on scatter communications techniques and radar problems. While at MIT he assisted in the establishm e n t of the Lincoln Laboratory, which worked on t h e development of t h e radar, computer, and communications systems for the continental air defense system. Dr. Wiesner has published technical papers in the Journal of Applied Physics, Scientific American, Proceedings of t h e Institute of Radio Engineers, Science, Physical Review, and others.
REPORT FOR A N A L Y T I C A L
CHEMISTS
idea be logically relatable to what This, then, is the general backis already known if i t is to result ground which should be k e p t in in an enrichment of available scienmind as the following argument is tific knowledge or of associated developed. T h e main purpose of technologies. this argument is an a t t e m p t to deThis distinction is of more than fine the main problems involved in purely semantic interest because of increasing national productivity in our concern with both "education" the sciences in greater detail, and and "creativity/productivity." then try to identify, more or less realistically, the available courses Clearly a n element of rigorous, of action for progress toward their logical discipline must be characsolution. For increased concreteteristic, at some point, in the creaness of the discussion and because tive efforts of a productive scientific this group has been extensively worker, and such discipline may be studied by the President's Science altogether absent from behavior Advisory Committee, we will regenerally called "creative" in nonNew comprehensive brochure on strict the term "science" to cover scientific fields. Accordingly, when only the combined fields of engiusing the phrase "productivity in neering, mathematics, a n d t h e the sciences," I mean by it to enphysical sciences, or " E M P , " as compass the sum total of intellecthis group of fields has come to be tual activities to which expansion fairly commonly known. of scientific knowledge, a n d / o r of S&S Membrane Filters, the first membrane its associated technologies, can be filters sold in the United States, are p r o directly attributed. Thus "cread u c e d f r o m p u r e c e l l u l o s e or c e l l u l o s e tivity" is a more general term than Productivity and Creativity derivatives and have an extremely u n i "productivity," and when "creaf o r m micropore structure w i t h a very smooth surface. The pore sizes o f the tivity," or "creative," are used in Perhaps i t is best to begin dedifferent types of S&S Membrane Filters the sequel in connection with scribing w h a t meanings I have in range from 5 millimicrons to 10 microns. science and technology, i t is to be mind for the terms "productivity" A l l particles in liquids o r gases larger assumed t h a t productivity, in the and "creativity." Although these than the pore size of a given filter, are above sense, is also involved. \vords are frequently used synretained on the glazed filter surface, where they may be directly examined, or onymously, it is possible to introFor further progress in associatcollected w i t h o u t loss o f materials. duce a useful distinction between ing "education" and "productivity," them. The term "creativity" is Uses for Membrane Filters it is useful also to examine briefly P r e f i l t r a t i o n ; air o r gas sampling a n d principally used to mean activity the kinds of creative activity socleaning; microbiological examination resulting in contributions having ciety expects from scientists and and clarification o f water, milk, bevernovelty and value in the intellectual engineers. For our analysis i t is ages, foods, etc.; radioactivity determinasphere of h u m a n experience includtions. Sterile filtration; virus, phage, and sufficient t o group these activities albumosen filtration; protein concentraing, in addition to the sciences, litinto the following three categories: t i o n ; filtration of colloidal substance and erature and the visual arts. In all (i) scientific research, concerned solvents; filtration o f organic solutions, such contexts, "creativity" uniesters, alcohols and ketones. Dialysis and specifically with the problem of inversally implies t h a t a departure osmotic measurements; many other creasing our understanding of nafrom, and an advance beyond, what important applications in the fields o f t u r e ; (ii) applied scientific and bacteriology and microbiology. is conventionally attainable h a s technological research, concerned taken place. However, there is an Contents of Brochure with the development of new tools, important characteristic of "creaThe new brochure offered describes S&S techniques, and tool-technique sysM e m b r a n e Filters in detail; defines the t i v e " contributions in science which tems for the solution of particular various types of filters, notes the characis not significantly present in creproblems involving practical teristics of each, their uses, average pore ative contributions in m a n y other (rather than purely philosophical) size and speed. There are sections on fields, namely, t h e presence of handling of the membranes, membranes interactions between society and quantitatively definable logical reused for special purposes, tables o f ren a t u r e ; (iii) engineering design, sistance to various chemicals, apparatus lationships to preexisting scientific primarily concerned with esthetic, required for different filtrations, and prices. knowledge. Thus, although t h e materially efficient, a n d / o r ecoemotional and intuitive appeal of a | ~ MAIL COUPON TODAY—| nomic adaptation of available technew idea or concept, or its esthetic nology to particular social purposes. I Carl Schleicher & Schuell Co. I richness, m a y m a k e it "creative" in I I K B M K e e n e ' N e w Hampshire, Dept. AC-39 ! The common creative element in a philosophic or artistic sense, I these activities might be described I ^ ^ ^ P l e a s e send free brochure normally if i t does not also meet • o n S&S Membrane Filters j as t h a t imaginative insight which the criterion of being logically reI Name . I results in an effective increase of latable, in quantitative terms, t o f w h a t is already known by leading I Company the body of science, it should not to a somewhat different, more use- I Address I be called scientifically "productive." ful, broader a n d / o r better under- ! City Zone State j I t seems clearly necessary t h a t an
S*S MEMBRANE FILTERS
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REPORT
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stood body of experience available to mankind. However, it is necessary to be come more specific if a direct link age between an individual's capa bility to undertake creative ac tivity and the educational process to which he has been subjected is to be usefully established. To do this, let us fix our attention on scientific research. It is desirable to make this choice because the charac teristics of such research, and of its successful practitioners, have been perhaps more carefully studied than those of other creative activities. Let us approach the issue of re search creativity by reviewing, first, what we know (largely because of the pioneering studies of Anne Roei about the characteristics of emi nently successful—i.e.. extraordi narily creative scientists. These studies indicate that most of them can be described as having the fol lowing factor's in common: (il a childhood environment in which knowledge and intellectual effort are highly valued for themselves so that an addiction to reading and study was firmly established at an early age; (ii) an unusual degree of personal independence which, among other things, led them to dis cover early t h a t they could satisfy their curiosity by personal efforts; (iiil subjection early in youth to dependence on personal re sources, and on the necessity to think for oneself; I ivl intense per sonal drive generating concen trated, persistent, time ignoring, ef forts in their studies and work; (vl a secondary school training which tended to emphasize science rather than the humanities; (vi) high, hut not necessarily remarkably high, intelligence.
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Creative Aspects of the Research Process It is useful, in addition to these, more or less personal, attributes of creative scientific workers, to have some plausible, and reasonably well accepted, psychological de scriptions of the creative aspects of the research process itself. My version of these descriptions, and some of my conclusions below, have been most influenced by the works of Roe. MacKinnon, and Moonev.
REPORT FOR ANALYTICAL CHEMISTS (1) Successful conduct of re search is associated more with par ticular mental attitudes and habits of mind t h a n with specialized tech niques or procedures, although the latter m a y be present in certain phases of the work. Certainly creative persons develop styles of their own which are characteristic of their mode of working. Such attitudes and habite permit rela tively free and unrestrained obser vation of phenomena, and a persist ent, uninhibited pursuit of logical consequences in spite of recurring need to revise or reject prior con victions. (2) The specifically creative phases of the research process a p pear to be relatively loose informal, and personal, having very little in common with the highly structured, rigorously logical, and formal p u b lic descriptions of the results. I t seems clear t h a t it is this private, relatively unstructured, and per haps only partly conscious, process which results in the creation of new ideas and insights. (3) Thus, although analogy and metaphor are definitely prescribed techniques for formal reasoning, they m a y be among the dominant processes in the intuitive, some times illogical, initially random, scanning and searching process for new connections and clues. (4) To be creatively efficient such scanning and searching proc esses might well need an uninhib ited, habitually exercised, capability to consider, and tentatively accept, ideas in direct contradiction to accepted facts, concepts, and theo ries; obviously also, the efficiency of this process would be greater the larger the universe of relevant d a t a of all sorts available for it. Now let us assume t h a t this de scription of the creative process, and t h a t of the characteristics of outstandingly creative scientists are both valid. From the point of view of our general social interest in in creasing productivity in the sciences, the important question then obviously becomes: what can we say about the 'nature of the educational process which tends to maximize both the total number of individuals who are scientifically productive as well as their personal
scientific productivity. Since the descriptions we have provided above do not, by any means have the status of proved validity, in ferring from them a definition of an appropriate educational process is clearly a highly speculative under taking. However, there does not appear to be available a scientifi cally more secure basis for discus sion of this subject. Accordingly, we'll go ahead, keeping in mind, however, t h a t the scientific texture of our conclusions is likely to be rather soft. The essential problem appears to be t h a t of devising an educational process which will allow: develop ment of easy competence in rigorous methods of reasoning; the amassing of large collections of facts, related concepts, and theories constituting current knowledge; and, inculcation of habits for efficient use of the available ideas and facts, without the simultaneous acquisition of in hibitions and intellectual rigidities which limit the free and imaginative use in research (or in other work) of all the skills and knowledge t h a t have been acquired. T h a t this statement of the basic problem m a y be at least an inter esting beginning, is perhaps sup ported by the following remark which Alfred North Whitehead made some fifty years ago: "the key fact in education, and the rea son for most of its difficulties" is t h a t "necessary technical excellence can be acquired only by training which is apt t o damage those en ergies of mind which should direct the technical skills." Furthermore, it seems probable t h a t we may find in his work other anticipations of what is likely to be said at this Conference! However, we can per haps show a little originality by taking a somewhat more positive approach to the problem: we seek not only to provide training with out damaging youthful drive and imagination, b u t also to teach the youthful mind how it might use all of its resources for creative intel lectual pursuits in a more effective manner. The only time-tested formula for carrying out this proc ess is to associate the prospective scientist with a person who has demonstrated both his creative
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REPORT FOR ANALYTICAL CHEMISTS ability and his capacity to transfer his spirit to youngsters. How Education Can Enhance Scientific Productivity
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