BOTR
Interesting post. I agree with some of your points. I think where you went to school matters, but not as much as a few decades ago or atleast in my field. After an engineer sits for his or her PE certificate, no one seems to care anymore. If a guy went to MIT, everyone will know it, but I know of MIT engineers who are horrible at their jobs. I would guess more than half of the top engineering schools in the United States are State Schools. I wouldn't put Harvard in the top 20 of engineering schools personally.
Yes, the Military's main role is to fight wars, however some of the most advanced technologies are used to do this today. If someone joins the Military and wants to be a war fighter there are assignments that lean more to that aspect of warfare. I have a gentleman who works for me who joined the Navy as a teenager. He became a communications specialist and went to school part time with the Navy until he qualified for OCS. He became an Officer and an engineer. He worked for 20 years and became a Lt.Col and recieved a nice comfortable retirement. He was the youngest of 6 brothers from a poor family and could have never gone to school. He had a plan and used the system to his advantage.
In my field, the level of training has changed. In the 1960's some really smart people from Houston put men on the moon with slide rules and equations. Most engineers today do not have the level of proficiency with basic engineering skills entry level engineers had a few generations ago. However, most entry level engineers are much better with newer techniques than the older engineers. It's kind of a trade off in my mind. Personally, I would rather have a guy who was more experianced at current pratices than a guy with really strong old school practices. I think putting these guys together on projects is a great way to solve the gap.
Yes, I think students today are more career oriented. I think it has to be that way. The work force is getting more and more specialized with each and every passing generation. I would love to see a college catalog from the 1950s and compare it with one from today. I bet the catalogs of today are a lot thicker than the 1950s.
As far as the young ones being lost, I had a young senior level engineering student who didn't know how fractions worked with bolt sizes last summer. Some as[ects of learning have fallen over the years and some have gone up. I think colleges should focus on skills based training rather than broad general knowledge. Yes, I do think an engineer should be able to right a proper sentence. (as this submission shows I can not) However engineers should be exposed to more hands on training than happens now. I do not care if an engineer can tell the difference between a Mozart and Tchaikovsky, buy I think he should know a half inch bolt is not a 8/16ths bolt.
Your right. Children should have nothing handed to them. If you buy a child a $200.00 pair of shoes they will ruin them in the first week, because they have no appriciation for the value. If you make children work and earn the $200.00 pair of shoes, they will baby them and take care of them for as long as the shoes still fit, because they understand the value.
SDS and Black Panthers. WOW! I bet you would be an interesting person to share a beer with.
Dt