Culture and the Young Technical Supervisor *
voiced by the college graduate in A liberal artscriticism is that the graduate engineer or scientist has FAVORITE
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little or no education with respect to culture, history, other civilizations, people of other countries, or even our own people. I presume they also mean that the engineer-scientist group does not have any understanding of economics, sociology, or philosophy. There is some truth t o these complaints. On the other hand, I am not certain that the average liberal arts graduate himself has a sufficient understanding of the subjects necessary for a well-rounded education. If one wanted to be slightly malicious, one could ask if, in turn, the liberal arts graduate knows much about physics, chemistry, mathematics, and kindred subjects. But be that as it may, let us examine the status of the engineer-scientist and analyze what he should know to be successful. First of all, the engineer-scientist must know his basic technological subject matters. They form the skeleton and backbone of his future career. Likewise, these subjects are a matter of great interest to him and they, in themselves, are great and noble branches of human knowledge. Every true engineer-scientist thinks that the application of technical knowledge has benefited the human race far more than the pursuit of many so-called liberal studies. Unfortunately, the demands of the training for the career of engineer-scientists are so severe that many of the embryo engineer-scientists neglect or ignore the fact that to be truly educated they should have some broad understanding of the philosophy of life in general, the rights of man, and the place of man. The student often becomes a narrow specialist in his field of knowledge t o the exclusion of other areas of learning. Most of our great engineering scientific schools are aware of this tendency and during the past generation have required a minimum of certain L‘cultural’’subjects such as a foreign language, history, economics, etc. In a recent series of LICommunications”to the editor of Science [120,546, 896, 897 (1954)], it was brought out that when 15 scientist Ph.D. candidates were asked during their oral examinations to identify as specifically as they could the following items, these responses were obtained :
The Renaissance The Reformation The Monroe Doctrine Voltaire The Koran Plato The Medici Family Treaty of Versailles Bismarck M’agna Carta
Satisfactory 6 5
2 5
10
7 1 11 4 2
Unsatisfactory 9 10 13 10 5
8 14 4 11 13
Now this lack of knowledge of human affairs presents a black mark against the engineer-scientist and probably has September 1955
provided material to back the arguments of the liberal arts protagonist. In all fairness to the top-notch engineer-scientific colleges, it must be said that they teach their students that: 1. The responsibility for a worth-while education rests on the student and not on the teacher. 2. The student can be guided and inspired if he wishes to be guided and inspired. 3. Education is work, hard work, but not necessarily unpleasant. 4. Education is a never-ending, life-long process in all fields of knowledge. 5 . Every educated man must have considerable general knowledge outside of his specialty.
After all, perhaps the most important thing in the world today is the struggle between two philosophies of life-one believing in the value of the individual and the fact that every individual has a soul of his own and the right to equal justice under the law as an individual; the other maintaining that the individual is only a servant of or a slave to the state. Jaeger (see Paideia, page 20, Vol. I) states: The superior rank and worth of the aristocracy imply a n obligation to shape its members during their malleable youth into the accepted ideal of nobility. In this process education becomes culture for the first time-that is, it becomes a process by which t h p whole personality is modeled on a fised pattern.
Philosophy of life
The knowledge a young person must possess today is infinitely greater than the knowledge required by the young Greek noble or future leader as so well described by Jaeger. The humanitarian subjects taught in the better engineerscientist colleges can only light or attempt to light a flame within the student. He should follow up with a broad course of reading and study in addition to that necessary to develop and advance his technical career. He can, for example, now buy cheaply sets of Dr. Eliot’s “Harvard Classics,” which give an excellent perspective of human philosophy and often two
We never mind hitting at the same subject more than once when the approach i s different. This is the third time in the past year our guest columnists have warmed up to the subject of the engineer-scientist and his cultural background-or lack of it. The third time is supposed to be the charm, and we hope you’ll b e a s charmed a s we were by this fresh and interesting approach taken by Fred H. Denig, vice president of Koppers. It’s also Mr. Denig’s third time this year to appear in I&EC a s a guest columnist ; twice before he has authored columns on plant management.
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The Professional Man sides of the question. The engineer-scientist should not be ashamed to read Karl Marx on “Capital” and analyze in his own mind why the book appealed to many and revolutionized a substantial part of the world. Religious reading is also to be recommended. The Bible is wonderful reading as literature and is, of course, the basic textbook of morals and ethics in our civilization. History should not be overlooked, from Gibbons’ “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” through the works of Toynbee, “A Study of History”; Churchill, “The Second World War” (all six volumes) ; and Herbert J. Muller’s “The Uses of the Past.” Certain so-called “highbrow” magazines should be read, including Atlantic Monthly or Harpers, as well as New York Times and one or more of the contemporary periodicals. Highet’s “Man’s Mind Unconquerable,” Du K0Uy7s“Human Destiny” should be carefully read, reread, and considered, as also should be the works of St. Thomas Aquinas Shakespeare should be reread by one and all. This writer believes that the initial reading of Shakespeare in high school and most colleges is a waste of time. Shakespeare is probably the greatest analyst of human character and frailties ever to appear on the human scene He cannot be fully understood or appreciated, however, unless one has studied under a profound and gifted Shakespearian scholar or has himself drunk deeply from the well of human experience. The same comments apply to Goethe and his great work, “Faust.” Every engineer-scientist in industry should read all or some of the works of authors such as Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” and “The New Society,” and Lewis Ord, “Industrial Frustration,” and similar works by other authors. Such philosophy as taught by Ord and Drucker serves as a bridge between materialistic technical effic’ency and humanism. Art and music
The question of art and music depends on the individual’s tastes. Certainly the engineer-scientist can attend concerts, visit a r t galleries, and thus acquire some knowledge and feeling for these arts. If he has time and interest, he can follow one or more branches in a detailed fashion. On the other hand, he might become a student of birds, rocks, fishes, or botanical life with equal satisfaction to his inner man. The Bible says that man cannot live by bread alone. This is true of the engineer-scientist and particularly so after his (or her) formal schooling and apprenticeship in his profession. Once his basic needs are satisfied, then come wondering and speculation-What is it all about? Why are we here on this earth? Where do we come from? Where do we go a t the end of our earthly life? How can we better serve ourselves, our families, and our fellow men? The prime purpose of this article has been to indicate briefly what the engineer-scientist should read and consider, so as to help him raise similar questions in his own mind; to attempt to find answers satisfactory to his own soul and mind and to provide guidance throughout his own life-not only as a scientist or an engineer, but also as a citizen in this increasingly complex and competitive world. Correspondence concerning this column will be forwarded promptly if addressed to the author, % Editor, INDUSTRIAL AND ENQINEERINQ CHEMISTRY, 1155--16th St., N.W., Washingtong, D. C.
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