1985-1987 - Population Studies Center - University of Michigan

an inevitable part of most systematicresearch of high quality. Theseimportant aspects of the researchprocess cannot be learned frombooks and lectures on how to doresearch, although such moreformal parts of the curriculumhave their place, too. Studentswho have had no previous researchexperience begin withroutine clerical-statistical tasks, butthe objective has always been tohave them understand howwhatever they do fits into theoverall research project.We were fortunate that in theearly days of the Center, Beverlyand Dudley Duncan joined thestaff, since they had worked withan apprenticeship system at theUniversity of Chicago. Theyhelped to set procedures andstandards for our emergingprogram.One consequence ofthe apprenticeshipprogram is that we havehad relatively few formal coursesin population, so that studentshave time for the apprenticeshipexperience. Not infrequently,students have earned the right tobe co-authors of publications onthe research in which they wereinvolved. After they have passedthe doctoral preliminary examinations,they are free to work on theirdissertations.The best evidence that the apprenticeshipsystem works is inreports from those who haveemployed our students that they"hit the ground running." Theyare said to require less in-servicetraining than students trainedmainly through formal coursework.We should not claim too much.We have been fortunate in attractingmany first-rate students, manyof whom, no doubt, would havedone well under almost anyprogram. Florence Nightingale isreported to have said "the firstduty of the hospital is to do thepatient no serious harm." Similarly,the first duty of the teacher to thestudent is to facilitate his developmentbut not to interfere too much.The high productivity of many ofour former students is principally attributableto their own creativity andeffort, but our program probablyhad some part in their development.The physical arrangements of theCenter facilities were and aresupportive of the apprenticeship andcollegial relationships we cherish.All of our students have had desksand other facilities in the same placeas the permanent staff. This hasfacilitated the informal interaction atBrown-Bags, twice-daily coffeehours, and various chance or intentionalencounters. An importantpart of the program has always beento provide the opportunity forstudents with first-class minds toeducate each other (and sometimestheir teachers, as well). When theCenter was started, the communityof social demographers, both in thedeveloped and less developedcountries, was small. One of ourobjectives was to train students for agrowing number of opportunities forsocial demographers in universities,governments, international agencies,foundations, and other institutionsboth at home and abroad. In thelast 25 years a world network ofsuch scholars and officials has beencreated, mainly through the trainingprograms of centers like ours,largely in the United States but alsoin some other developed countriesand more recently in the developingcountries, too.Men and women who have beentrained or taught at Michigan are asignificant part of that worldnetwork. In the early years ourwork abroad often helped toestablish institutions and programsand to train some of their potentialleaders. These days, in an increasingnumber of places, our staff serveas collaborators and consultants forinstitutions in many of which ourformer students have significantroles. This reversal in roles was ourobjective from the beginning. Itisrewarding that in many places theideal is becoming the reality.We could not hope to keep associatedwith us all of the excellentpeople who have been members ofthe faculty or research associates.The following names are onlyillustrative: Paul Demeny, DudleyDuncan, Beverly Duncan, Lee-JayCho, James Palmore, ChristopherLangford, Robert Potter, BarbaraRonald Freedman 39