WHY TEACH SCIENCE?

*
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.

* Paper presented at the annual

banquet meeting of the National Association for Research in

Science Teaching, Atlantic City, February 27,
1950, by Professor George E. Axtelle, Chairman,
Departments of History and Philosophy of Education, New York University.

and to turn aside from everything else, from the

multitude of things which clutter up the mind
and divert it from the essential. The hitch in
this was, of course, the fact that one had to cram
all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations,
whether one liked it or not. This coercion had
such a deterring effect (upon me) that after I
162

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.
.*

..

I wish you would reread his remarks.

Note the emphasis he placed upon stimulation and freedom as the primary needs
of the spirit of curiosity and inquiry. Also,
note the effects of coercion and sense of
duty upon his scientific interests. Who can
speak to us with greater authority?
H e coiifirnis my own experience and my
experience with many able young minds.
I know a young lad whose educational performance has been bi-modal, a few As
and many Cs and Ds. He developed
an interest in photography. H e spent
countless hours wit+ his equipment and
materials learning how to use them by very
careful research methods. I have studied
his methodology and have been amazed at
the soundness and accuracy of his research
techniques. all of which he developed independently. H e not only learned much of
the physics, chemistry, and mathematics of
photography but carried his research

* Paul A. Schilpp, Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist. Library of Living Philohophers.

P. 17. Evanston, 1949.

163

methodology into the artistic-esthetic and

the human aspects. Many fields of learning were cultivated yet without specialization. They formed an organic whole. But
most important was his discovery and
cultivation of the scientific temper. So
precious was this to him that he refused
to entertain the idea of photography as a
profession fearing that occupational demands would destroy the spirit he so
prized.
I have discussed this instance at length
because I think it illustrates the points
Einstein makes and also because it suggests the values implicit in hobbies and
active interests of all sorts. It suggests
that here is where we should look rather
than to the organized subject materials
which are so much more obvious and coriipelling for institutional reasons. We must
capture and stimulate these active interests,
and give them freedom. to rove as they will
knowing that the spirit bloweth where it
listeth and that we cannot capture or
coerce it by routine and memory.
I have suggested that the interest in
photography avoided the specialized approach to the sciences. but rather organized scientific resources into an organic
whole. This leads to two further points.
The first is the problem of specialization
and the second that of social responsibility
and orientation of the sciences.
W e must acknowledge that the great
power of the sciences lies in specialization,
in the progressive analysis of a field into
ever more manageable parts. W e must
acknowledge at the same time that specialization of itself has serious evils. In the
first place it means loss of perspective,
failure to understand the whole of which
specializations are parts.
Unless the
specialization can be grasped in the context of the whole, its own meaning and
significance is lost. The whole is seen as
little more than the part. This leads eventually to sterility and social incompetences.
Now what is this whole of which specializations are parts? The whole is nothing

164

SCIENCE
EDUCATION

less than the whole of nature and culture.

To pursue a specialization apart from this
whole is like studying the human brain
removed from the organism to which it
belongs. Much of the intellectual and
moral difficulties of our time is due to the
kind of specialization which treats parts as
though they were independent wholes.
The scientific temper whose roots are in
active interests and hobbies avoids this
danger. While it may lead to specialized
interests, it does so out of an organic life
context which preserves appropriate perspective. It also insures that the fruits of
specialization will enrich the practical and
the social.
Finally, I wish to emphasize the tragic
dichotomy of the Natural and the Human
Sciences. This is but the major instance
of the vice of sheer specialization. Failing
to'note that man, culture and nature are a
single field from which inquiry starts, the
several sciences lose their moral-human
character and become dangerous and
powerful weapons in the hands of children.
Science is then conceived as without
morality, if not a threat to human life itself.
Is this not a paradox, that the greatest
problem solving instrument of man should
succeed in creating ever more difficult
problems, but he of no avail in attacking
the important problems. that is the moralsocial problems of associated living ?
May I remind you of what you are only
too well aware: that one can study an
organism only in its environments. I
suspect that Ecology will become not
merely the most important of the biological
sciences, but that it will become even more
importantly assimilated into the very
method of science. We know that when a
biological environment is disturbed by the
introduction of an alien organism the balance of nature is upset and one can never
tell what all consequences may ensue.
The same principle holds for human life
and culture. Now the sciences and technology have heen pouring an ever greater
stream of influence into western culture.

[VOL.34, No. 3

Each element of that stream upsets the

organic balance of the syscepl. Yet without cessation they pour in. Is it any wonder we are a neurotic civilization? Tt
speaks volumes for the hardihood of man
and culture that they have stood up to this
fact so nobly.
Now what is the implication of this?
First, it must be apparent that the introduction of new technology into the culture
disturbs it in u.ntold ways. Second, science,
if it is to perform a moral function, must
operate ecologically in human affairs. That
is, the resources of the various sciences
must be brought to a focus simultaneously
in dealing with social situations. I n other
words, no specialized skience by itself is
ever competent to deal with a practical
situation. Only when the frill resources
of the sciences are employed can we be
assured of a progressive solution of human
problems. Otherwise the application of
the specialized sciences will but further
disorganize the society.
This suggests further that the sciences,
both natural and social, should be taught in
terms of human problems; when this is
done, all will become both natural and
human. To return finally to the scientific'
temper: The cultivation of the scientific
temper by stimulating and freeing active
interests, curiosity, and inquiry may develop a citizenry and a society which can
use its scientific resources creatively and
responsibly.

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