That's a great point. I damn near dropped out of my CE program because I couldn't pass basic fluid mechanics. I was working a full-time job outside my industry and barely hanging on taking a couple of night courses every semester, when finally I got a night course taught by an adjunct professor who taught the class as kind of a cross between fluid mechanics and hydraulic design. Fluid mechanics became a snap after that, since hydraulic design for civil engineers is so damn easy compared to what you guys do in chemical and mechanical engineering (basically, the only fluid we deal with is
water!).
I have no problem admitting I was a marginal student at best, but ten years after graduating I decided that something must be wrong with the whole system of educating engineers. I probably wouldn't have qualified for engineering school if the admissions offices could have seen how poorly I would do, yet I passed both my EIT and P.E. licensing exams on the first try -- and by pretty wide margins, too.
Good points.
Some of the “liquids” we deal with are only liquids by the most generous defintion.
An old timer I worked with said that todays engineers were yesterdays techs. I see that also.