|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy, was granted the gift to foretell the future and then stricken with the curse that no one would believe her. Our world today faces a related conundrum. More than any other group in our technological society, it is our scientists and engineers who best know the future. Yet most of them lack the ability to tell what they know. In our technical schools across America, students are flooded with training in aerodynamics, the design of computers, and the manipulations of genes but receive only a few drops of instruction in writing and speaking. Indeed, in many technical universities it is possible for students to march to the graduation stage, often with medals and ribbons, having written only two or three papers in their entire four-year career. Here at MIT a 1995 study found that, despite our writing requirement, three-quarters of our students were graduating with fair to poor writing skills, and many students were no better able to express themselves as seniors than they were as entering freshmen. Similar conclusions have been reported by alumni of other technical institutions.
Inarticulate scientists and engineers will have troubles not only with the public but with their professional colleagues as well. As stated by Earl Dowell, chair of the national Engineering Deans' Council, "Too many times have I seen engineers, whose technical skills are superior, fail to communicate their ideas effectively and find that their ideas do not receive the attention they deserve." Communication skills have recently been elevated to high priority by the Accreditation Board for Engineers and Technology.
The vote by our faculty last month to implement a new Communication Requirement will not only address our own problems but also serve as a model for the nation as a whole. At the heart of the new program is the requirement that every undergraduate take at least one subject each year that includes significant work in writing and speaking. Our old writing requirement involved little more than a proficiency test, and the requirements at other technical institutions too often end with freshman expository writing. What is needed, and hasn't been offered in the past, is a sustained experience with writing and speaking.
Looked at another way, we and other technical institutions have failed in our responsibilities to prepare our young people for the future. The world today has become increasingly interdisciplinary. A problem in urban pollution might require the services of chemists and chemical engineers, aerodynamic engineers, economists, business leaders, and urban planners. A study of drug development and delivery might require the collaboration of molecular biologists, chemists, mechanical engineers, ethicists, and health managers. No longer is it possible for successful scientists and engineers to remain in their laboratories, talking only to fellow specialists. They must be able to discuss their results and ideas with a large range of people.
Beyond the ability to convey technical knowledge itself is the critical importance of understanding that knowledge within a broad human context. In our modern world of nanoseconds and gigabytes, it sometimes seems that technology is careening ahead, without any rider. Wireless telephones, virtual reality helmets, e-mail, gene therapy appear suddenly from nowhere and everywhere, like a Maine fog, and then stay. We are placing ourselves in danger unless we can guide our technology with human values. And that guidance ought to come from our scientists and engineers as well as from our producers and consumers, our capitalists and politicians. Who are we as people, and as a nation? Where are we going? We must deliberate the future, and we must deliberate it together. We do not have to live in a Greek tragedy. Our fate is not sealed.
The new MIT communication requirement is part of a vision of the scientist and engineer of tomorrow. Such a person understands the true needs of people as well as the needs of machines. Such a person not only knows the future but knows that the future is not fixed. Such a person helps shape the future, tells, and listens.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|