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Unread 22-05-2011, 22:40
Ian Curtis Ian Curtis is offline
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Re: Is there too much focus on STEM? (Liberal Arts strikes back)

Quote:
Originally Posted by XaulZan11 View Post
Could you provide a reference that shows Engineers have the most valuable degree? One disadvantage is engineering degrees is that you are trained for the job you are hired for, but your job may not be a job 20 years from now nor will you want to be doing the same job your entire life. I don't know the exact statistic but the average person changes careers like 5 times in their life. I'm a fan of liberal arts education that includes a strong math and science basis. I would rather learn how to think like an engineer, writer, psychologist, biologist than learn how to do a specific job that may not be around in 20 years.
The most important thing you learn in an engineering education is that you don't actually know very much at all. What an engineering degree gives you is a broad base you can draw upon doing whatever you end up doing. Engineers in the workforce now went to school with slide rules... and numerical methods play an enormous role in engineering today.

As an example, one of my friends was under consideration for a job at NERF (NERF guns) and Sikorsky (helicopters) at the same time. Most of my friends have the same degree, but work in a variety of different fields (although they are decidedly airplane-centric).

Quote:
Originally Posted by StevenB
Partly in jest and partly serious, I brought up the question during an open forum, "Given that honors engineers have to take six writing and history intensive courses, wouldn't it be appropriate for honors English and history majors to take calculus? [1]"

The response was predictable: "Do you want us to die?"
I graduated (high school) from a charter school, and Calculus was a graduation requirement. You quickly find that students who excel in the language arts typically excel in math as well, even if they aren't willing to admit it.
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