Brian Kraut wrote:
>
> I also bailed on my EE degree after my first semester ad opted for an ET degre
e.  I did this
> when I realized that I knew more about electonics design going into college th
an most of the
> engineers that were graduating.  They just knew all of the math and physics th
at I wasn't
> interrested in.  Most of them forget the math and physics a few years after gr
aduation
> anyway.
>
That's why my old textbooks are right now only 4 feet away from me.

As both a tech and an engineeer, I see where you're coming from.  But:
in all my levels of schooling I always placed a high value on the math
end of education.  In fact, I always tried to stay one level of math
(calculus, statistics, etc) ahead of the rest of my courses - this aided
in the comprehension of the other courses (why memorize all those
equations for an exam when you can derive them on the spot?).  In
university, my electrical engineering field was communications - not
because of any great interest, but because it was the most math
intensive.

> Before a hundred engineers jump on me for this comment I do need to say that I
 have respect
> for anyone that makes it through an engineering degree.  The problem is that m
ost programs
> spend three years teaching the "necessary" basics and a year on real job relat
ed
> engineering.  This is why employers complain about the skills of new engineers
 and the pay
> is so experience related.
>
Traditionally, the goal of university was to "teach you how to learn";
i.e., give you the skills to apply what you learned to a wide variety of
potential jobs.  Technical college, on the other hand, gave you
immediate job skills for a narrower range of employment.

This distinction has blurred in the last decade or so (at least in
Canada) with the advent of co-op university degrees, private colleges
granting degrees (e.g. DeVry), and community colleges offering 2 year
programs that let the student transfer directly into 3rd year
university.  These are good things.

> Fortunately, some colleges are waking up and shifting the emphasis to real eng
ineering and
> co-op, etc. and away from other areas.  I think that today students and employ
ers would be
> better served by a semester on how to apply MathCad to solve real world proble
ms than 5
> semesters of advanced calculus.

Take that to another level: calculators in elementary school.  I think
that general concepts must be learned and understood before tools (like
calculators or MathCad) are used to speed up the application of those
concepts.

--Matt

Didn't Mark Twain once advise: "Try not to let school get in the way of
your education"?