THE PROBLEM OF TEACHING PHYSICS IN LATIN AMERICA
by Richard P. Feynman
"The Problem of Teaching Physics in Latin America" is a transcript of the keynote speech given by Richard Feynman at the First Inter‑American Conference on Physics Education in Rio de Janeiro in June 1963. Dr. Feynman is Richard Chace Tolman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech.
The problem of teaching physics in Latin America is only part of the wider problem of teaching physics anywhere. In fact, it is part of the problem of teaching anything anywhere – a problem for which there is no known satisfactory solution.
There are many new plans in many countries for trying to teach physics, which shows that nobody is satisfied with any method. It is likely that many of the new plans look good, for nobody has tried them long enough to find out what is the matter with them; whereas all the old methods have been with us long enough to show their faults clearly.
The fact is that nobody knows very well how to tell anybody else how to teach. So when we try to figure out how to teach physics we must he somewhat modest, because nobody really knows how. It is at the same time a serious problem and an opportunity for new discoveries.
The problem of teaching physics in Latin America can also be generalized in another way, to remind us of the problem of doing anything in Latin America. We must get at least partly involved in the special social, political, and economic problems that exist here.
All the problems come into sharper focus if there is before us a clear picture of the reasons for teaching physics in the first place. So I will try to give some reasons why I believe we should teach physics. We can then ask whether any particular educational plan is in fact satisfying any of the reasons.
The first reason is, of course, that physics is a basic science, and as such is used in engineering, chemistry, and biology, and has all kinds of applications in technology. Physics is the science, or knowledge of nature, that tells us how things work. In particular, I am stressing here how devices of various kinds – invented by men in present and forthcoming technology – work. Therefore, those who know physics will be much more useful in coping with the technical problems arising in local industry.
It might be argued, and in practice it is argued, that in the earlier stages of industrial development that we have in Latin America, such talent is completely superfluous because it is so easy to import good technically‑trained personnel from more advanced countries outside. Therefore, is it really necessary to develop highly‑technically‑trained people locally?
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