2 4 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of gauges and, later, the filling out of a printed blank form with the 

 result of routine substitutions in formula?. The obvious objection that 

 there is not time in a technical course for a broader preparation and 

 the existing superstructure is admitted, but it is to be met categorically 

 by omitting the superstructure which can be easily supplied under 

 commercial conditions by our industrial companies. 



In the senior year, some time is spent on minor questions of the cost 

 of engineering work. The larger question of costs, the whole field of 

 modern economics, is in general passed by or alluded to in a brief intro- 

 ductory courses. In a day of economic questions, so many of which have 

 direct connection with engineering, this failure to train the future engi- 

 neer to assist in their solution is the second defect in the technical 

 school. Many problems, such as those of public utility rates, of the 

 conservation of natural resources, of the protection of workmen from 

 industrial accidents, and of sanitation and transportation in cities, must 

 ultimately be solved in conjunction with engineers. Men trained in the 

 fundamentals of economics, possessing a knowledge of the economic 

 history of our country, who are in touch with the practical engineering 

 or commercial aspects, may be powerful forces for the public good. This 

 second defect may be remedied by the student after graduation, but in 

 the manner of human nature the chances are small that it will be. 



The first defect limits the chances of success of the individual, the 

 second more especially limits his value to society, and the third will be 

 seen to determine to a large extent his social relations. The hours of 

 the technical student are closely filled with laboratory, shop and draught- 

 ing exercises, with classes and periods of study. His opportunity for 

 acquiring social conventions and amenities are necessarily very limited, 

 and, unlike the arts-college man of more leisure, the end of his course 

 finds him but slightly changed by attrition with his comrades. While 

 such training is not essential to the student who is favored with a so- 

 cially alert family, upon the unfavored and favored alike the technical 

 school imposes its third defect, by surrounding them with an atmos-' 

 phere essentially devoid of all cultural interests of music, art, literature, 

 or drama. The average technical-school graduate may be justly ac- 

 cused of being deficient in sympathetic points of contact with his fellow 

 man. He is prepared for a too special vocation. 



In regarding, upon the other hand, the arts colleges it is well, 

 momentarily, to eliminate from the consideration those students to 

 whom such an institution is but an intermediate step to medical, law, 

 divinity, or technical schools, and to consider the normal college man 

 whose days of study end with his graduation. There must also be 

 eliminated all those whose college course is essentially a professional 

 course, namely, those preparing to teach, whether or not their early 

 intentions are toward graduate study. There remains the future states- 



