Engineers and the College

Those who criticize the University's science departments for requiring too many "trade school" courses at the expense of the liberal arts, will call the proposed plan for a five-year B.S. engineering degree another step towards professional education on an undergraduate level. They will say that it will turn out only better engineers than the four year B.A. course. But the program will not only give a student a firmer engineering background; it will also leave him more time for study outside his field.

It would be ideal if the engineering concentrator would only have to take six courses in his field, as does his fellow who concentrates in Government. But as science grows in complexity, engineering education becomes more and more technical. Engineering schools so crowd their curricula with technical subjects that they find time to give students only the barest background in the humanities and social sciences. Because this type of education is so fundamentally opposed to the tradition of liberal education, the University has never tried to develop an undergraduate engineering program that could seriously compete with that of the trade schools. But the present concentrator in Applied Science is caught in a double squeeze. He does not get sufficient training in any specific area of engineering to permit him to go immediately into industry, yet concentration requirements are still so time consuming that he can take only the bare minimum of liberal arts courses required for distribution. He rarely has time to take advantage of all the diverse offerings of the University, and must have still more training if he wants to complete his engineering education.

The proposed five year plan, designed primarily for the man who does not intend to go to graduate school but still needs some additional specialized training before entering industry, would reduce both these pressures. Since the B.S. degree would require two and one half courses beyond the present B.A. honors requirements, the fifth year would give the student more time for courses outside his field. At the same time, he would get a more solid engineering background.

Opposition to the program will come not on details but on principles. But those in the ivory tower should realize that the University has some very practical responsibilities. Although the new B.S. degree will give a man a "practical" education, it is flexible enough to promote intellectual growth besides.