June 4, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



These considerations indicate approxi- 

 mately how to make the difficult decisions 

 as to the amount of shop work, laboratory 

 work and drafting which should be put into 

 our curriculum. These courses serve in 

 part one purpose, to illustrate principles, 

 to make them concrete and thereby both to 

 strengthen the gTasp of the student upon 

 the principles and to increase his interest 

 in them. These courses, especially if made 

 extensive, also serve another purpose, 

 namely, to develop some skill and judg- 

 ment in the manipulation of instruments, 

 tools and apparatus. In accordance with 

 our ideal, we should endeavor to stop when 

 the first purpose has been accomplished. 

 To endeavor to accomplish the second pur- 

 pose also by more shop work, laboratory 

 work and drafting during the college years 

 will necessarily crowd out other courses in 

 lines in which teaching may be done much 

 more effectively in college than out of it. 



The student should^ however, be encour- 

 aged to engage in practical work connected 

 with engineering, during his summer vaca- 

 tions. He may gain from this, in some- 

 what the same manner as from his first 

 experiences after graduation. 



In the statement of our ideal we have 

 acknowledged that the embryo engineer has 

 much to learn after he leaves college and 

 before he becomes a full-fledged engineer. 

 It follows, therefore, that it will be a mis- 

 take to keep him too long in college, just 

 as truly as it will be a mistake to turn him 

 out too soon, with too little training. With 

 each year added to his life, the man tends 

 to become less quick to learn new ways, less 

 keen to profit by new experiences. "We 

 should not delay unnecessarily the date on 

 which our graduate begins his work in the 

 world. While he is in coUege he is sur- 

 rounded by men who are endeavoring to 

 teach him. He has put before him organ- 

 ized knowledge, carefully arranged and 

 carefully presented. As soon as he steps 



out of college, or at least as soon as he rises 

 above the lowest rank in his profession, the 

 knowledge which it is most important for 

 him to acquire is that which lies outside the 

 field of well-organized knowledge. It comes 

 to him in chaotic fashion. His fellow 

 workers and his official superiors have but 

 little interest in helping him to learn, and 

 have still less activity in that line. With 

 each additional year the young man stays 

 in college, it becomes more difficult for him 

 to adjust himself to this radical change in 

 conditions when he goes out. 



For the present, we have adopted a five- 

 year course for engineers. Past experience 

 in colleges of engineering shows that a four 

 years' course is too short. The considera- 

 tions just touched upon should lead us to 

 examine with care any other considerations 

 which seem to indicate that the course 

 should be extended to six years. 



The adopted five-year course for engi- 

 neers is so arranged and provides for such 

 liberal training that at the end of the first 

 four years the successful student will have 

 fulfilled all the requirements for, and will 

 receive, the degree of bachelor of science 

 from the College of Liberal Arts. An en- 

 gineering degree will be granted at the end 

 of the fifth year. 



We have adopted as our ideal the propo- 

 sition that we are to train engineers for 

 the greatest average effectiveness in the 

 first year after graduation. We should, 

 therefore, avoid sending out our graduates 

 handicapped by ignorance of men. The 

 young engineer, or the old unsuccessful 

 engineer, so long as he remains in such a 

 minor position that he has no official sub- 

 ordinates and never needs to take the in- 

 itiative, is but little handicapped by igno- 

 rance of men. But as soon as he begins to 

 rise, and in proportion to the extent to 

 which he must necessarily depend on those 

 below him for details and for loyalty, on 

 those around him for cooperation, and must 



