Date:    Tue, 21 Sep 1999 10:28:00 EDT
To:      advise@MIT.EDU
From:    John S Hollywood <jshollyw@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Meeting Tonight / Meeting with Charles Stewart

[snip]

3.  I talked to Charles Stewart this morning, exclusively on issues
of programming and support.  I thought he had some very interesting
things to say that could be of great use to us.

I first asked him what about what was involved in good programming.
He began by specifying a "spectrum" of programming, all of which
is valuable and should be done:

-- Classwork auxiliary, which includes things like tutoring, study
   skills seminars, advice on which classes to take, etc.
-- Personal and professional development, which includes networking
   with alums, career explorations, major explorations, etc. 
-- Leadership development, which includes student government, along
   with seminars and coaching / mentoring programs.  
-- Cultural events, including in-house programs, trips to museums,
   to symphonies, etc.
-- General social events, such as parties.
-- Discussion of "tough" and challenging issues, such as racism,
   social conditions, philosophy, ethics, etc.

In general, he felt that a vital role of programming -- both at MIT as
well as any other "elite university", was to "educate the tastes
of the students."  He felt that to do that we must have a professional
staff that facilitates such programming, and "knows what to do."

We then discussed the balance between classroom and non-classroom
issues.  He said that the entire educational environment -- and not
primarily what goes on in the classroom -- is the reason for students
to come both here and to other elite universities.  Consequently,
MIT needs to explicitly needs to emphasize the need for non-classwork
learning, and free up time in the schedule to do this.

Therefore, "the faculty has some work to do":
-- On the classes side, he felt that students need
   to be encouraged not to take too many classes, whether just
   on general principles, or taking lots of classes they know they will
   drop but that still eat up a lot of time, or trying to move
   through MIT too quickly.  [My personal note: this would include
   departments requiring students to take too many classes, as well.]
-- In the classroom, he felt that professors needed to avoid having
   their students do busy-work.
In general, students and faculty need to "work smarter, not harder."

We discussed why the residential system was the proper home for
programming and support.
-- People other than faculty need to be involved with students,
   and the residences are a natural place for doing that.
-- Going back to "educating tastes" -- students need to have some
   experience in using their mind all the time, and in ways other
   than doing problem sets.  
-- He felt that students needed to be exposed to culture why they were
   at MIT -- art, literature, philosophy, etc, in a natural, nonacademic
   way -- and that the residences were natural homes for such programming.
   The idea is to get students other things besides TV and partying
   (the "two basic food groups").
-- The residences provide a good environment to discuss controversial
   and potentially painful issues such as racism -- "if someone says
   something racist in an informal discussion, that's not good; if
   someone says something racist in a classroom, it's disastrous."

In general, he felt that residences should not just be retreat areas;
comfort and safety was important, but he wanted to build on that comfort
to get people to consider new things.  He brought up the idea of the
Williams professor who was known "for uncomfortable learning" -- informal
seminar classes in which students discussed philosophy in new and
provoking ways.  The idea would be that the residences (and student
activities) could provide a home for this sort of learning.

We then discussed getting expertise to do this programming; Charles
said (and I agree with him), that MIT simply doesn't have much in-house
expertise in programming, and that we'll probably need to get outside
help in what to do.

Concluding thought:  the new president of HP was a political science
major at Williams.  Why would being a poli-sci major at Williams
give one the ability to run the 3rd-largest computer company?  Perhaps
because what Williams does outside the classroom provides an education
teaching students to be comfortable with others and with society.