30 Kansas Academy oj Science. 



ful observation, of weighing both sides of any point at issue, of 

 searching for and clearly and strongly proclaiming the truth. Tech- 

 nical schools, in their laudable endeavor to fit men for practice, 

 often for particular places, have sometimes lost sight of the real 

 object of any right college work, and one of the encouraging things 

 is another trend in engineering education that seeks to make more 

 of the training of men as men without any real detraction from the 

 scientific training. 



That engineering courses are not professional is evidenced by 

 the comparative ease with which young men, trained in one line in 

 college, get into and succeed with another in practice. Civil en- 

 gineers become miners, and vice versa; a miner becomes an expert 

 in the cement industry ; an electrical turns himself into a bridge 

 engineer for a great rail-ivay. These and many other similar trans- 

 formations have come within the writer's personal knowledge, as 

 well as many instances of successful service in business or indus- 

 trial life. 



The young graduate, with his best acquisition a capacity for 

 hard work, is somewhat the victim of circumstances and environ- 

 ment, and yet in the long run he will follow his bent and his natural 

 likes. One becomes a scientific engineer, who loves his profession 

 and his search for the truth in its problems, and who is content 

 with a modest gathering of wealth. Another becomes a business 

 engineer, attracted by the struggle of competition and the chances 

 for accumulation. Both make use of their knowledge and scien- 

 tific skill, but with slightly diflPerent aims. One seeks to obtain 

 the best result for the least money expenditure ; the other, so to plan 

 that money returns may be the largest. 



Our technical schools have largely planned their courses for the 

 benefit of the first man, and it is a question that is now receiving 

 consideration, whether they should not provide some specific train- 

 ing for the latter ; and this is pertinent, because all engineers, of 

 whatever type, necessarily must have to do with business afPairs. 

 It is certain that our engineering courses are strong in mathemat- 

 ics, the physical sciences, and their application and in drawing 

 and design, at the expense of suflficient training in the use of Eng- 

 lish, a knowledge of the principles of economics, the elements of 

 law, some study of business methods, the analyzing of the cost of 

 production in manufacturing, some consideration of the principles 

 of dealing with human nature and the handling of men, as well as 

 some treatment of the matters of ethics and taste which materially 

 affect a young man's outlook and his attitude toward life. 



