Reflections
on my time at MIT
“Laboratory work and shop work… give
honesty; for, when you express yourself by making things, and not by using
words, it becomes impossible to dissimulate your vagueness or ignorance by
ambiguity.”
William
James from Talks to Teachers
I’m Ken
Stone and I’ve been the Director of the MIT Hobby Shop since 1991.
the value of
making things and what is so important about the MIT motto “mens et manus”
mind and
hand. It also speaks to my experience at MIT and the Hobby Shop which I’d like
to
reflect on
briefly this morning.
In 1968 I
entered MIT as part of the class of 1972; this year marks our 40th
reunion. I think it
was January
of 1969 that I first entered the Hobby Shop, charged with making paddles for my
pledge class
of Beta Theta Pi. I must say I was
proud of the paddles my friend Dan and I made
and soon I was
working on my first piece of furniture, a desk with one drawer. My lifelong
love
of designing
and building had begun.
Everyone at MIT has their own unique experience, mine has centered
in the Hobby Shop. For me the Shop epitomizes the goal of educating mind and
hand, the brilliant idea in my opinion, that has made MIT and its’ students so
successful. Shop membership is open
to all students, staff, faculty and alums. It’s also entirely voluntary and
allows all who join to pursue their building interests both personal and
academic. It’s a community of people, that has shared interests, enjoys
building and is excited to have the opportunity to bring their ideas to reality.
I think in large part working in this supportive creative environment is why I
have had such a positive experience during my time at MIT. But it is because
MIT is filled with smart, imaginative, motivated and generous people that the
Hobby Shop has flourished for almost 75 years. I have heard that some people
are turned off by the name Hobby Shop. I think for them the word hobby connotes
something trivial. For the people I know in the Hobby Shop, hobbies are
something they pursue because they want to and they enjoy doing it. The work
that MIT people do just because they are interested and want to, has always
impressed me the most. Their diverse interests and creative imaginations lead
to an incredible range of projects that are anything but trivial.
What I like best about the people I know at MIT is their
enthusiasm for what they are doing and that they want to share their knowledge
with anyone interested. They are generous with both their knowledge and time. They
are inclusive, and when you get people like that together, soon they are kicking
around ideas and you have a synergy capable of tackling the complex problems
that face the world. I find the people who actually make the things they design
tend to be both humble and self effacing. I believe this comes from the
experience of many failures and remembering the huge amounts of time and effort
that was needed to make a design successful. I enjoy being around people working on concrete solutions to real
problems. I’m tired of the good sounding but empty spin that fills our culture.
There is however, a tendency of some MIT students faced with various forms of
failure to lose self confidence and take self effacing to self demeaning. This is
the cultural phenomena I would most like to see combated and changed at MIT. It
is critical that we both challenge and nurture our students. There is a delicate
balance between putting our best and brightest up against difficult academic
challenges and overwhelming them to the point of diminishing their self esteem.
For many at MIT working with their hands provides another way to learn while helping
balance what can be an overwhelming academic class schedule. It’s also a way in
which we learn things that can’t be taught in lectures that it is, both fun and
productive.
To conclude I am grateful to have landed at MIT and to spend
time with and get to know so many wonderful people. To be a part of and
contribute to the work of this institution has been a great joy. I’d like to finish with a favorite song the
Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” which beautifully expresses the blessings I feel.
Ken Stone ‘72
