What's a Whitney Learner?
In his 1973 documentary, the Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski observed that the industrial revolution began in the hands of practical men, men educated, not in classrooms, but in the building of England’s mills, canals and bridges. These independent mechanics were not obedient to tradition. They immersed themselves in the power of water. They invented new machines and a new social order. They invented themselves. Bronowski spoke about the millwright James Brindley but he could have been describing Eli Whitney.