MICHEL DEGRAFF: So why was I so happy to engage
in having this course be ported on OpenCourseWare?
Well, first of all, I have a very deep affection
for OpenCourseWare because I feel that OpenCourseWare
has this potential to teach to the billions,
to share knowledge, to unlock knowledge for people
in very far-flung places, very remote places,
like in Haiti where there's little access to quality
materials.
So for me, I feel that OpenCourseWare's mission
is very germane to myself, as a Haitian, [INAUDIBLE] MIT,
wanting to share this wealth that I have intellectually
with the rest of the world, including
my compatriots in Haiti who don't
have that access, that much access, to quality materials.
But also, when it comes to this issue of breaking walls
and building bridges, as we see, say, in the US and parts
of Europe, the world moving to more exclusion, to more walls,
I feel that the kind of knowledge
that we're building here at MIT and how
we as a people, we as a global village, as we enrich ourselves
by understanding other people's experiences, be it Muslims,
and immigrants, and blacks, and Latinos, it is wealth there.
So I feel that it's important to take
this knowledge, these discussions,
and have it shared with the whole world
so people can see that there's a different way of thinking
that doesn't involve building walls for security,
but instead creating dialogues, building bridges, so that we
all can be the richer for it wherever we are,
be it in Boston, Massachusetts, or in Port-au-Prince Haiti,
or in Syria, or even Iran.
So that's why I feel it's important
that such courses be on OpenCourseWare for the world
to participate in.