alan wells

According to William Glasser, we learn “10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what is discussed with others, 80% of what is experienced personally, and 95% of what we teach to someone else.”

Think about traditional school teaching methods in this sense. Are we leaving knowledge out of our brains because reading in a textbook and hearing a lecture are only scratching the surface of our capacity to learn? My design history midterms the last few days have increased my level of frustration with the way things are taught – not because I did badly – but because I did well without really learning anything I’ll rememeber next week.

This brings me to the bigger questions I’ve been asking myself since I returned from a few weeks off in Australia:

Is my college education preparing me for the “real” world?

Am I learning the skills I need to solve the problems we are facing in our time?

My gut reaction to these questions is no – that the most important lessons I’ve learned while in college have been learned outside the classroom, through my own explorations and the influence of good friends and unusually interesting professors. But maybe that’s the purpose of college – to provide an atmosphere that’s safe, slightly sheltered, and away from the resposibilities of the working world to allow those kinds of experiences to happen. I just wish they happened in the classroom a bit more.

My life this quarter
1) School
2) Freelance work
3) Blogging

Not much time left over for #3 these days, I’m afraid. But I found this quote today, and its one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. The more I read it the more I love it.

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.”

-Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1864-1912)

My good friend Kate is working on an art show to benefit people suffering from cystic fibrosis. Many local Davis artists have donated work to support the show, and she needed some help promoting the show.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in a gene called F508. Building on that idea, we developed a logo, poster, and mailer for the event.