Some Thoughts on Engineering Education

The views of a practicing engineer on engineering education as provided by engineering schools and colleges in the prewar period are presented in this paper; and some suggestions are offered for changes and modifications in academic courses for the postwar era. Supported by appropriate data, the paper discusses the organization of the engineering profession, and the general conditions encountered in the practice of engineering. It argues in support of the conclusions that postwar engineering education should emphasize fundamental principles in subjects throughout the broad field of engineering; and that postwar engineering education should also include courses to prepare a graduate for a career involving administrative, executive, and managerial activity, both technical and nontechnical in character. This paper holds that specialization, or the acquisition of knowledge of the advanced theories and their application to design, operation, and processes, should be primarily left to the years after graduation and that engineering schools should provide such positive and formal guidance and assistance to their alumni in this postgraduate period as will encourage and even urge them to pursue systematic studies toward such specialization.