Henning Wagenbreth
Former Yale President Richard Levin led the university’s effort to reconstitute the sense of possibility at a 300 year old elite liberal arts institution. A myriad of initiatives during his tenure as president, 1993 – 2013, instigated new possibilities in learning. “Yale is committed to remain on everyone’s short list of the best universities in the world,” he stated in 2000. “In the 21st century, you must excel in science and engineering to maintain that position. Modern space for scientific research is crucial in attracting top professors and students. We find ourselves in stiffer competition in the sciences than in other fields,” he further stated. The climate of possibilities that developed as a result of the Levin initiatives created the conditions under which self-directed apprenticeships, the hallmark of the wide toolbox cohort, could exist. The university provides the necessary conditions wherein students can personalize their education and learning; they can develop their own solutions, with external support based on a personalized approach to learning.
In earlier posts, I have written about the student-oriented infra-structure for innovation, design, and entrepreneurship. The Center for Engineering, Innovation and Design has been described as an academic maker space that provides students tools, materials, and mentorship to produce physical objects ranging from 3D printed items to artificial beehives with built-in temperature and moisture sensors. Also, I have described how the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute provides programs, and mentors to help students ideate about a venture, then learn the lean start-up methodology to create a business model and execution plan. As a modern teaching and research institution, Yale has created an environment teeming with student-oriented resources that prepare and equip students to optimize their ability to be successful in the new economy.
Talented students, who are intellectually curious and desire to learn, are the complementary factor to Yale establishing an institution-wide climate of possibilities. The wide toolbox cohort exists in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862 when he proclaimed: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” Lincoln was offering a challenge to people who were unwilling to change with the times. Challenging what is taken for granted is central to the wide toolbox mindset. This cohort is challenging the notion that learning only occurs in the classroom, or under the tutelage of a professor. They are challenging the notion that education and learning are the same thing. They are, above all else, challenging themselves to embrace a different sense of possibility, and to hold a different set of expectations, thus taking advantage of access to world-class facilities, faculty, and outstanding fellow students.
The array of possibilities, including engaging in entrepreneurship, is limitless is an environment that provides tools that empower students to imagine, then build solutions.