SPECIAL SECTION: BERMUDA CONFERENCE
Jul 1, 1993
Digger's Decline: A Fable for Civil Engineers
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 119, Issue 3
Abstract
A timely fable to encourage civil engineers to do what they are supposed to do best—think. The law of supply and demand was in full effect long before Adam Smith wrote so eloquently about the invisible hand of the market. The law is still with us, undiminished by the profession's denial. Civil engineering's continuing and compulsive predictions of engineering shortages and fervent recruiting have contributed to an oversupply of engineers, depressed salaries, and extremely destructive price competition. These conditions make high standards of creativity, excellence in design, and fully ethical and professional conduct impractical for many who want to stay in business, or stay employed. Recruiting students partly on the basis of shortages that never happen raises additional and unaddressed ethnical considerations. Recruiting should be stopped. Public relations efforts are simply embarrassing and irrelevant. This simple fable is offered in the hope that it will help the profession take a fresh look at the question of supply and demand for civil engineers.
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Copyright © 1993 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 27, 1992
Published online: Jul 1, 1993
Published in print: Jul 1993
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John A. Alexander, Member, ASCE
Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME 04468
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ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.
Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.