442 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



GENERAL EDUCATION FOR ENGINEERS. 



By Professor CHAS. D. MARX, 



STANFORD UNIVERSITY. 



rpHERE has been of late years a large increase in the number of 

 -*- students of engineering in our colleges and universities. An 

 investigation made by Professor Raymond, of the Iowa State Uni- 

 versity, shows that the attendance in arts and science courses has 

 increased in four years 15 per cent., in engineering courses 102 per 

 cent. This tendency on the part of the young men to take up the study 

 of the more practical lines of work in preference to the so-called more 

 liberalizing studies is viewed with grave concern by some. ' Are we 

 to be merely a nation of shopkeepers and engineers ? ' has been asked 

 from this platform. While not sharing the fear implied in this ques- 

 tion, I must admit that because of the tendency of the young men of 

 the country to take up engineering studies, the proper training of the 

 engineer is a matter of vital importance to the commonwealth. The 

 extent to which engineering enters into some of the most vexing prob- 

 lems of our national and municipal life is perhaps fully realized only 

 by men who have an engineering training. The correct solution of 

 these problems can in many cases be given only by engineers ; but these 

 must be men trained on broad lines. The charge is brought not in- 

 frequently that the professional structure which we rear on the founda- 

 tion laid in our public schools is a narrow one, lacking in windows 

 from which to gain the necessary outlook for surveying even one's own 

 field, let alone that of one's neighbor. The charge is well founded, 

 but may with equal justice be brought against students in other lines 

 of work. 



The graduate from a high school who takes up engineering studies 

 should be required to broaden his intellectual horizon before beginning 

 his professional work. The difficulty of bringing this about is great, 

 and the introduction of the elective system has certainly not helped 

 matters. The tendency toward early specialization is constantly in- 

 creasing, and one-sided narrow linguists, historians and scientists are 

 as much a menace to the commonwealth as one-sided engineers. For 

 it must be borne in mind that the work which the engineer is called 

 upon to do is in the world, implies contact with men and things and is 

 in its nature broadening. It is cultural in the best sense of the word, 

 and must, therefore, react on him. This does not hold true to the 

 same extent for the other lines of work mentioned. In a democracy 



