The Tower Winter 2018 - 3

From The
President's Desk
A

t Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology the foundation of the way we teach students is "learning
by doing". In all of our programs, including general education courses, every effort is made to engage
students in real world projects and problems. Over a century of experience has taught us that this is the
best way for our students to learn and retain knowledge and skills. Proponents of this concept go back
over 2,000 years to Confucius who is credited with the saying "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember.
I do and I understand." The 20th century philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer, John
Dewey, is the most noted proponent of learning by doing rather than learning by passively receiving
information. His laboratory school at the University of Chicago produced compelling proof of the
validity of his ideas but was never widely adopted. The predominant form of instruction in the United
States is lecture, with its underlying assumption that all students learn in the same way and at the same
rate. While anyone who has ever taught knows this is incorrect, it still continues to be the primary form
of instruction and in my opinion the root cause of our educational systems' failures.
Dr. William E. Griscom
President

The 1983 report by the Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk found an "incoherent,
outdated patchwork quilt" of classroom learning. The report called for drastic changes in American
education or risk forfeiting America's continued "preeminence in commerce, industry, science and
technological innovation." In the 35 years following the report little has changed. We continue to use
lecture as the primary instructional method for teaching regardless of the age of the students, content
or subject.
Children are naturally curious and inquisitive. They want to explore their environments and constantly
are trying to solve problems using their hands and minds. Tragically we ignore these natural human
characteristics and place them in classrooms with rows of desks and chairs and attempt to "educate"
them by treating them like empty vessels that need to be filled with knowledge and ideas. The resulting
failure is reflected in a wide range of outcomes such as: high dropout rates; declining literacy rates; and
unfavorable comparisons of achievement to other industrialized nations. It is hardly surprising that
the United States ranks 47th world wide in science and mathematics. Twenty years ago 40 percent
of the world's scientist and engineers resided in the United States, today that number has shrunk to
15 percent. The national shortage of high skill technical workers, such as those who graduate from
Thaddeus Stevens College, is an impediment to economic development and has become a threat to our
standard of living and national security. Scientists, engineers, high skill technical workers are all part
of what has been termed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) careers which are in high
demand and projected to grow more than any other sector in the economy over the next decade.
I believe the only hope we have of addressing these threats and challenges is to design and build
our educational system on the natural curiosity, problem solving and explorative nature with which
humans are born. It is critical that our children learn math, science, reading, writing, art, history, etc.
however it should be through discovery and hands-on learning, or as Dewey stated "learning by doing".

Winter 2018 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Tower Winter 2018