OF MICE, MEN, AND MULTITUDES

Commencement Address
Illinois Institute of Technology
June 6, 1958

by W. L, Everitt, Dean of Engineering, University of Illinois

It is customary and indeed expected of a commencement speaker that he offer advice, praise, and perhaps caution to the graduating class. But there is danger in this, as is indicated by an essay on Socrates which a high school student wrote in three short sentences:

Socrates was a teacher.
He went about telling people what to do.
They poisoned him!

You are receiving certificates today indicating your passage of an important landmark in a journey towards becoming engineers and scientists. It is an appropriate time to assess goals and objectives,

What is the value of your college education? There has been too much evaluation recently in terms of statistics such as–

The high school graduate who does not go to college earns, on the average, X dollars during his life.
A college graduate earns, on the average, Y dollars. Hence, the value of a college education is: (Y - X) dollars

While this is no doubt an encouragement to families who have sacrificed and struggled, or are considering doing so, to help their children through college, it is, in fact, stuff and nonsense. The real values of a college education do not lie here. Even if there were no such place as college, those who now go to college would earn, on the average, more than those who do not, simply because college is a sorting mechanism of a kind, admittedly inadequate, such that the graduates of college are on the average more ambitious, more eager and able to learn, and have more family support and backing. But certainly, this sifting process would not in itself justify the cost of the plant, facilities, personnel, and student time now dedicated to higher education. Other, simpler means could be devised.

Is the value of your education then that you have learned how to be happy? Many believe that this is a worthy major objective in life. But I am afraid that the ignorant and the dumb are often found among the world’s happiest creatures. Furthermore, happiness is an elusive quality. Those who spend their lives seeking it never find it, for dedication to this search implies excessive interest in self, and the selfish are never happy.

Is a college education justified then in terms of the knowledge of facts you have gained? I doubt if any of you know as many facts as are outlined in one volume of a 24-volume encyclopedia. Furthermore, some of the facts you have learned will never be used, some will become obsolete, and unfortunately, some of them are just not so. Of course, an encyclopedic knowledge of facts and the ability to recall them instantly might help you on a quiz show. Someone has said that opportunity does not knock any more; it rings the telephone and asks a silly question.

One can also hope that, with the facts which you have acquired, you have gained at least the basis for wisdom and judgment, more important because these terms imply knowledge plus under st-anding.

Is there even a danger in college ??f we are given a false con:fidence in our selectivity, our intellectual acumen, or our knowledge, we can well end up “smart alecks with no sense” who do not take pains or time to use good judgment.

Dr. A.W., Hull of the General Electric Company once gave a definition of the purpose of a college education which I like.  It was:

“The value of a college education is that it gives one confidence in his ability to learn.”

But confidence in one’s ability is not enough. One needs also the desire and energy not only to learn, but to relate and apply what one has learned to the needs of men. Ability to learn and relate should be one of the results of your college education, desire and energy you must still supply yourself.

In view of the explosive expansion of technology, engineering education especially has faced a most difficult task. We have had to recognize that the education of an engineer is a three-way responsibility-, The engineering College or institute must teach what it best can, stressing particularly fundamentals or principles of widest possible application: o- the “why” and not the “how”, The student’s employer after graduation must make provision for instruction in the the applications to a particular job or industry. But most of all, the individual must carry on a continual program of selfeducation to fill out those deficiencies which he, himself, must recognize. It is no excuse in professional life to be satisfied with ignorance of any needed knowledge, or permit a lack of understanding to continue long simply because you did not take a course in the subject.

An illiterate young man came to this country without funds and so found it necessary to go right to work. He started out driving a garbage wagon, but being of a frugal nature, he soon owned it. Next, he bought a garbage truck, then a -fleet of trucks and ultimately obtained the contract for garbage disposal for a large seaboard city requiring a fleet of scows. One day he heard that there were complaints on where the scows were dumping. He went out to look the matter over and fell off one of his scows and drowned. At the funeral, his wife was asked by a friend, “Did Stanislaus leave you well fixed?” She replied, “Oh, yes, he left about ten million.” The friend remarked, “To think, Stanislaus left ten million dollars and he never even learned to read or write, ” And his wife said, “Nor swim. ” You are going to have to learn to swim by yourself. In this complicated and rapidly-moving world, we not only need to swim in a familiar environment but also have the courage to plunge into strange ones.

It has been said that the greatest study of man is man himself. I hope you have each taken enough courses in the social sciences and humanities to help you recognize that here is an area worthy of your continued study. The engineering point of view has much to contribute to as well as gain from these fields. By the recognition of analogies, both quantitative and qualitative, much of what you have already learned may be applied quickly to both physical and social problems.

Human knowledge in other fields than science and engineering has also been expanding explosively. This expansion has made communication among even educated men most difficult. It has been said that an anthropologist can no longer talk to an historian, unless they can find some common interest such as the Cleveland Indians.

But at the same time that communication has become more difficult because of the volume of ideas to be transmitted, we engineers have been developing the means for more rapid and world-wide dissemination of ideas. This is responsible for much of the unrest in the world today. The underprivileged peoples of the world are restless, because they now know what it is possible for man to achieve with the proper political freedom and an adequate development of material and energy resources.

In historical sequence, the engineer and scientist have given to the world great sources of energy by harnessing animals, firewood, water power, coal , oil, and nuclear energy. And we have learned how to control physically the release of most of these energy sources. Although science has not yet learned how to do this adequately in the case of that greatest of all sources - hydrogen fusion - we seem to be making real progress. When this problem has been solved, it appears that man need no longer worry about the exhaustion of energy resources.

Some energy sources, such as sulphur and charcoal, when confined separately are easy to control but when combined with other ingredients form what are called explosive mixtures. It would appear that we have created such a mixture when we combine mortal man with energy sources such as atomic fission or fusion. We engineers, our families and friends, our nation, and our world are immersed in and are part of this explosive mixture. We must examine carefully how we may prevent sparks from flying amongst us lest we set off the explosion which could end us all. This is a prime responsibility of education, entrusted to us in return for our status as people who have begun to be educated.

In John Steinbeck’s play and book “Of Mice and Men”, the central characters are Lennie and George. Lennie is a simple-minded giant, a kindly soul who loves furry animals. As a ranch hand, he can do the work of two, but only under the guidance of George. His love for soft things gets him into trouble. In petting the things he loves, be they mice, rabbits, puppies, or girls, he cannot; in the absence of George, control the force of his caresses. This leads to disaster for the objects of his affection and finally for himself. The moral of the play is, of course, that great power without control is dangerous; this is the reason for the title of my remarks today.

A new understanding of the control of physical systems has been developed by engineers in the last two decades. Control systems are divided into two major classes:

1. Open-ended Control Systems, in which a signal such as the flipping of a switch releases energy to do some useful work. An example would be the turning on of an electric fan.

2. Closed-circuit Control Systems, in which there is not only an initial signal to start the release of energy, but also a return signal which gives information on what has been accomplished. This information can be used at the input control to modify the amount of energy released so that an accurate adjustment can be made to a predetermined result. An example of such a system would be the thermostatic control of a heating or cooling system.

The returned signal in a closed system is called “feedback”. The development of the principle of feedback may well be considered one of the great inventions c.’ all time. But lest we become too puffed up with our new-found knowledge, let me point out that, after we engineers identified the principle and passed it on to biologists and psychologists, they have shown, in turn, that feedback is already built into our biological systems in many ways. The advantage of the seeing individual over the blind in walking down the street lies in the feedback signal he receives through his eyes. This causes him to correct continually the mental instructions to his walking muscles to keep him on his path.

In view of the high energies threatening us today, as represented on the one hand by missiles and nuclear weapons, -and on the other by aspirations for political freedom and a better way of life, what the world needs for tomorrow is more effective feedback of an intellectual and emotional sort. We engineers particularly must develop our sensitivity to human needs and human aspirations so that we can contribute fully to this feedback, not be insulated or isolated from it. Too often in the past, our control has been open-ended; if signals were coming back we either did not recognize them, or improperly interpreted them, or did not react to them.

We need this kind of feedback everywhere - in industry and our business offices, between our citizens and our schools, at home or in community affairs, and abroad. Somehow the combination of world tensions and good economic conditions seem to have sharpened group conflicts such as those between labor and industry, among co-workers, between people and governments, between youth and their elders, yes, even within religious groups. Thus, increasingly, we need a capacity for feedback and a willingness to use it as an essential feature of our everyday personal performance and social and business activities.

The same thing holds in our relationships with other lands and peoples. I have recently returned from a trip to India to study engineering education and engineering developments there. A nation steeped in philosophy and metaphysics, India recognizes that its hope of a better life for its people lies in modern engineering and modern agriculture. And India is not the only one. Everywhere among the world’s multitudes, one meets American engineers providing for the release of energy and materials. But are we also ready to provide the feedback signals, the interpretations of men’s aspirations and needs which will enable America to give assistance in a welcome form, to help prevent a destructive or fatal spark in the modern explosive mixture?

To my mind, the best way to achieve this feedback would be the development among us all of a characteristic described by a relatively new and little-used word, one I could not find in a Webster dictionary purchased some twenty years ago. That word is “empathy”. A more recent dictionary describes empathy as. The mental entering into the feeling or spirit of a person–appreciative perception or understanding.

Empathy is much more than sympathy. Its application in feedback
would imply more than doing what we would like to have done unto us. It implies the ability to do unto others what they would like to have done unto them.

Empathy should be developed wherever possible as a two-way understanding. You have a responsibility not only to understand the other fellow

but to help him understand you. When you are young get some knowledge of the problems of your boss and the limitations under which he operates. You may be surprised to find he does not have as much freedom in making decisions as you do yourself. And when you, in turn, become a supervisor or administrator, your past experience may help, but certainly will not guarantee that you have an appreciative perception of the thinking and problems of those who report to you. But even if it seems apparent that the other fellow does not appreciate you, still try to understand him, you will find it most rewarding. Furthermore, it is a first step in developing perception by him of your own good qualities.

And so in conclusion, I urge you graduates, and the rest of us in support, to select as a lifelong task of self-education, the development of empathy - an appreciative understanding of the people in the world about you. As engineers, interested in the application of what you learn to the solution of man’s needs, make use of the appreciative perception you develop in your daily business and social life.

When you have the opportunity or necessity to travel to other nations, as many of you will, learn all you can of their background, their culture and their language, so that you will be ready and able to enter into their spirit and feelings, to work with them as brothers and to interpret their attitudes when you return. And do not forget to exercise tact. Tact has been defined as the ability to reach conclusions without expressing them.

All citizens of our country, both those who travel and those who stay at home must be able to interpret the signals from abroad so that we can apply corrective controls, when necessary, to our national policy. I believe that this kind of effort is the only hope of providing the feedback needed for a closed-circuit peaceful control rather than an explosive destruction in the world of today and tomorrow.