The facts and techniques that we teach are important, but they
are also doomed. In 10 or 20 years much of what I teach today
will be obsolete. For example, in an introductory computer class
taught 20 years ago, I would have spent a great deal of time
talking about punched cards. Today that knowledge is useless.
Although facts and techniques are important, they are not the
main thrust of a university. What makes a university environment
unique is its emphasis on, and bias towards, self-directed
learning and research. Teachers try to convey to students the
process of scholarship, so that the students can become problem-
solvers and researchers themselves. Research relies on a
fundamental concept: the process of questioning. A scholar
constantly asks fundamental questions about the facts and
techniques that make up his or her discipline. The scholar then
answers these questions in unique and original ways. Because of
the importance of questions to the research process, one of the
things a teacher at a university