The Value of Self Teaching
Recently while visiting my server and having an article placed on the Internet, I had the pleasure of visiting with a remarkable young man. This young man, age 18, typed at the rate of 95 words per minute and demonstrated superior knowledge of computer science. I asked him where he got his training, to which he replied, "At home." He had spent many days alone in his room, but he had acquired remarkable knowledge.
Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Dell, Houston, Texas, an orthodontist, sent their son to college to get an education. Toward the end of their son’s freshman year they discovered that he had rarely attended classes, and had spent his time in his room studying computer science. Today, 16 years later, the son is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Dell Computer Corporation, a $25 billion dollar corporation which he started.
Many large corporations in America, such as Microsoft, were started by young people working alone or in pairs in a solitary room in a basement or a garage. It appears that the computer industry has been a big factor in driving the economy in the USA in recent years.
If I may be pardoned for a personal reference, my story about self teaching might be of interest to the reader. In my orthodontic training I was not taught cephalometrics. My equipment for studying was a human skull and a disassembled skull. Lead shots were glued at the important landmarks in the skull and wires were placed through the canals in the skull. After taking a cephalometric radiogram of the skull I was ready to begin my studies. Please see Article 2 in the Schudy Chronicles.
At the end of four years I had taught myself the science of cephalometrics and had discovered the importance of the vertical growth of the jaws – "the vertical dimension" – as well as having devised techniques to control the vertical movements of teeth, and was using this knowledge in my practice.
This research had taught that orthodontists everywhere were creating too much vertical growth, in high angle cases, with cervical headgears and Class II elastics. In low angle cases we were often not stimulating enough vertical growth of molar teeth.
The research was published in 1964 and 1965, and enormous effort has been spent trying to help colleagues understand "cause and effect," and to appreciate the value of the "whys" as well as the "how to do’s."
It was not realized until recent years that my writings are apparently meant for a generation yet unborn. Much of these writings are poorly understood. If colleagues realized that these writings represent sixty years of concentrated study, they would have greater appreciation and might possibly do some studying themselves.
I have grown content with the present situation, having the faith that sometime in the future there will emerge a young man of superior intellect who has rare charisma, rare honesty and integrity, rare determination, rare understanding, and rare faith, who will take the trouble to study and understand what has been written, and thereby make a noble contribution to orthodontics.
Self teaching has been a big factor in the development of our profession as well as the development of America. Large corporations will yet be formed by the work of the lonely self teacher.
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