You know how sometimes you’re reading news at a media outlet and you think, “Well, this is all great information and all, but really I’d like to know what the hell other people who have my job are thinking and saying,” and then you wish you could sort of aggregate some industry opinions from folk who do the same job as you? Well…here ‘ya go.

Real-World Experience Trumps Classwork.

To both this week’s article Affairs of U.S. Pedagogy for Future Workers and, in particular, to the latest Industrial Market Trends biweekly newsletter’s Burning Question: Is a 4-year engineering curriculum enough for practice at the professional level?, your comments primarily suggest that four years’ worth of higher learning is enough, though you also say students aren’t learning near enough in the classrooms because they must gain their true learning via real-world experience in the workplace.

Mina says: Four years should be enough to get the basics. On-the-job training provides more of what is needed.

Pat claims: Four years is more than enough. First, there is precious little practical, real experience gained in engineering school. Only theory and limited application of it – a college degree simply demonstrates to prospective companies a capacity to learn. The majority of compainies [sic.], automotive in particular, do not use engineers as engineers, anyway! What would the point be in wasting yet more time outside of the workforce?

Co-op was a big education proposal among our readers.

Mr. Songer says: With internships and work co-op programs, four years (six if you co-op heavily) should be enough. School is only the basis for acquiring knowledge, and full knowledge comes from solving real-world problems with colleagues for a paycheck.

Mike’s thoughts: Some will need more years of in-school education for fundamental research and scientific breakthoughs, but the vast majority of engineers needed for everyday design, development, and manufacturing support roles require far more apprenticeship and co-op sessions.

Daniel responds to our Burning Question with the following, of college education for future workers: No — it should be a combined curriculum of classwork and co-op work of at least five years. Use the model at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering as a model — or any of the other fine schools using a co-op curriculum.

And according to reader Tom: Four years of academic training in theory is sufficient for learning “what” and “why”, but only real-world experience teaches you “how” in a practical way. That’s why I believe Cooperative Education is so valuable in the training of future engineers. Co-op experience allows you to gain the academic background while at the same time getting to see and learn the practical applications of theory as well. Co-op experience is also very valuable for developing good interpersonal and communication skills, things that may not necessarily be a part of many college engineering curricula but are vital in the professional realm.

Four Years Enough?

On the traditional four-year degree for Engineering, Jon says “no”: The four-year degree truly can’t be enough (at the equivalent of 140 semester credit hours required for the degree) for an engineer to function at the professional level. Most states require four additional years of experience before an engineer is allowed to write the examination for professional licensure.

Meanwhile, Hugh, who is a near-70-year-old industrial engineer (still employed as a senior I.E.) whose son and daughter both are engineers, opines that the average time it should take for an engineering degree is five years — due to the degree of complexity of the engineering courses.

And in the opinion of reader Denny: Four years of training is sufficient for engineering. But for “professional engineering,” at least two additional years should be required, plus passing a Federal Examination.

To Hell with Humanities!

Notes Harry: Let’s see now. 330,000 annual graduates in the arts and another 330,000 annual graduates in the political and legal fields, compared with 55,000 annual graduates in engineering.

Says Mike: What’s the use, to a student interested in electronics (it used to be called “radio & TV”, back before transistors) to have to study painting, music and poetry! He/she can do that stuff later, if they have time and want to.

Likewise according to Stan: …four years in college should be more than long enough if the curriculum were reoriented more toward math and science and a great deal less time spent on the humanities (of course, the humanities professors would all have to get real jobs).

Paul says that apprenticeships are near extinction: Conventional apprenticeships will soon be a thing of the past since young people are not willing to get tied down four years in a below-average paying job.

Meanwhile Rich quipped: [Additional hours of study] proposed should be spent studying Chinese. That’s more than likely where the work will be. There are less and less jobs for engineers in this country.

Validity to Rich’s comment?

Finally, reader John offers his proposal for improving the philosophy of academic education:

What the practice of teaching lacks in America is the process of conferring methods and performance of rigorous and coherent thought. The schools I went to failed to teach us to think, to organize data usefully, and to develop methods of memory to make the data accessible and functional. The graduates and professionals I know in all fields mostly lack the ability to think, to organize the data they know such that it can be applied coherently, efficiently and creatively to the problems at hand…I suggest developing and implementing a pedagogy of thinking and thought: Of teaching people how to think; how to organize data; and skills for remembering what they know. This is the information age; the time in history where information carries a very high value.

Well said, dear readers. Nice show of honest participation and input this week. Please continue to comment to articles at the IMT blog — whether you reached them via the e-newsletter or are simply returning for our daily-updated editorial. Leave your insight or your related rants, dear readers, and join in the online conversation. This is your industry. We’re researching, writing and updating daily for you.