I never said there was no need for engineers etc. What I am trying to put across is that technical knowledge (and I have spent most of my working life as a technician) is not the same thing as education. Education is about learning how to live a good life and enjoy it. Technical training is about how to make a living. Engineering, computer science etc. is great for making a living, I wish I had had the benefit of a degree in electronics rather than just a certificate from a U.S.Navy school but making a life is what is learned in the liberal arts courses which are so scorned by so many on this forum. Ideally a person would be both educated and trained but the emphasis now seems to be on making a living. Look at what goes on around us, we have fantastic new technology but are you pleased with the culture we are developing? I certainly am not.
My personal belief is that college should be about making a living, period.
Before college is a whole different arena. I am a strong proponent of exposes children to art, music, literature, history up until college. I absolutely hate when schools drop art & music from their curriculum.
I think that children do not know if they will be good in those areas or will develop a love for those topics, so I think children need a broad education in their younger years.
However, once a child has grown up and moved into college, then I think they have to be thinking about making a living. By college, most people know what they are good at, and what they are interested in.
College is too expensive to be thinking about enjoying life, it’s about working hard to be able to take care of oneself afterward.
Training to me is when you show someone how to do something. Teaching is about showing a person how to think. College should show a person how to think and solve problems.
I would posit to you that the reason for the decline of American culture is not technicians and engineers lacking a background in things of permanent importance.
It is more the fault of liberal arts majors and their ideals that there is no absolute truth, that post-modernism is a valid substitute for critical thinking, that morality is an outmoded concept, etc.
They don’t teach that stuff in engineering schools.
They do teach it in liberal arts colleges.
Want an example? OK, here’s a nice, clear example. I see no shortage of pundits, liberal arts majors all, who are arguing that Spitzer’s behavior is not the concern of the taxpayers.
My engineering background informs me that if I’m paying a man to do job “X” and he is screwing around on the job (literally), I can fire his butt out the door, post haste, and I don’t have to listen to any excuses for the behavior.