Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
How We Learn
November 14, 2006
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

Dr. William Glasser is a former chemical engineer who later went into psychiatry and became internationally known for his work and his twenty books on subjects of mental health and on educational science.

One of the more interesting summaries attributed to him is "How We Learn."

Dr. Glasser has said that:

We learn... 10%... of what we read
We learn... 20%... of what we hear
We learn... 30%... of what we see
We learn... 50%... of what we see and hear
We learn... 70%... of what we discuss with others
We learn... 80%... of what we experience personally
We learn... 95%... of what we teach others

It sounds to me like he has learned what the Boy Scouts have known for almost 100 years now. We don't learn by just reading about things. We learn by seeing, hearing, doing, and reacting with other people. Our meetings and outings are designed with this in mind. Then we learn even more by teaching others, just like our older guys taught you about backpacking tonight. Scouting is a great environment and opportunity for learning. I hope you guys make use of your Scouting time to learn all that you can.

Thanks for listening.