But worst of all is the fact that the necessary years of academic drudgery are completely detached from the real-world practice of engineering. While being a working engineer is also hard work, it is hard in an entirely different way.
First of all, as a working engineer you will work on a team with other engineers, all of whom will depend on your work and thus have a vested interest in your success. This takes the edge off the competitiveness and can even lead to a close-knit sense of camaraderie. Second, as an engineer you get the time to more fully investigate and solve the problem at hand. Your employer needs experts and if no experts are already available, you will become that expert. And third, as you develop professional expertise, the work itself becomes rewarding in a way that no throw-away student project can ever be.
So the relationships are healthier. Your expertise becomes deep and practical. And the rewards are more lasting and tangible.
And so my advice to discouraged engineering students is to hang in there. Being an engineer is a lot better than being an engineering student. If you have the gift for math and science, it can be a great career with a wide variety of rewarding opportunities. And if you are used to getting A's, do not be discouraged by B's or even C's. If you persevere, the hard work will pay off.
Confessions of an Engineering Washout - Douglas Kern
Not long ago, I showed up for my first year at Smartypants U., fresh from a high school career full of awards and honors and gold stars. My accomplishments all pointed towards a more verbal course of study, but I was determined to spend my college days learning something useful. With my strong science grades and excellent standardized test scores, I felt certain that I could handle whatever engineering challenges Smartypants U. had to offer. Remember: Kern = real good at math and science.
...
I nearly fainted when I learned that I received a 43% on the Physics final. I nearly fainted again when I learned that the class average was 38%. ... Having allegedly mastered 43% of the course material, I was now deemed fit to take even harder Physics classes. I wondered: at the highest levels of physics, could you get a passing grade with a 5% score on a test? A 3% score? A zero? Could drinking from a fire hose actually slake your thirst?
Exhausted and demoralized, I stumbled into my next semester of engineering. My new math T.A. had all of my old T.A.'s inability to teach, but half of her mastery of English. One day in class I heard myself saying: "If I understood what I didn't understand about the problem, I would understand the problem, and therefore I wouldn't be asking a question." The T.A. stared at me across a void that seemed increasingly unbridgeable.
The course was called "Discrete Mathematics." Many people thought that the course was called "Discreet Mathematics." Wrong. To clarify: "Discrete Mathematics" is "the mathematics in which Kern was getting a D at midterm." "Discreet Mathematics" is "how Kern dropped that class along with the rest of his engineering course load and signed into liberal arts classes, all on the last day he was eligible to do so, because he couldn't stand the stress, abuse, and lack of comprehension anymore." No one waved goodbye to me at the engineering door.
The United States contains a finite number of smart people, most of whom have options in life besides engineering. You will not produce thronging bevies of pocket-protector-wearing number-jockeys simply by handing out spiffy Space Shuttle patches at the local Science Fair. If you want more engineers in the United States, you must find a way for America's engineering programs to retain students like, well, me: people smart enough to do the math and motivated enough to at least take a bite at the engineering apple, but turned off by the overwhelming coursework, low grades, and abysmal teaching. Find a way to teach engineering to verbally oriented students who can't learn math by sense of smell. Demand from (and give to) students an actual mastery of the material, rather than relying on bogus on-the-curve pseudo-grades that hinge upon the amount of partial credit that bored T.A.s choose to dole out. Write textbooks that are more than just glorified problem set manuals.
Generation Jobless: Students Pick Easier Majors Despite Less Pay - Joe Light and Rachel Emma Silverman
Science classes may also require more time -- something U.S. college students may not be willing to commit. In a recent study, sociologists Richard Arum of New York University and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia found that the average U.S. student in their sample spent only about 12 to 13 hours a week studying, about half the time spent by students in 1960. They found that math and science -- though not engineering -- students study on average about three hours more per week than their non-science-major counterparts.
