Weekend Journal — The Value Of School Lies In Opportunity
I’ve been pretty down on higher education lately. Rising costs that don’t seem to equate to raising educational levels, a large amount of mismanagement of funds and schools’ increasingly brazen one-ups-man-ship in terms of building larger buildings and offering unnecessary perks to students. I don’t like it. But I’m a bit hypocritical. I’m a graduate of an engineering program that taught me quite a bit, in buildings that were just a touch larger than they needed to be. Further, I encouraged my wife when she expressed a desire to go back to school this semester to try out a completely different field. So why was I ok with that? Access. In my case, access to facilities. Access to faculty capable of teaching me difficult concepts. And most importantly, access to co-ops and potential employers. Similar reasons abound in my wife’s case, though she’ll be taking many of her classes online,…
Engineering Education Beyond the Classroom
Engineering education is something that gets discussed a lot around here, and around the web. However, most of these discussions focus on what can be done within the classroom context. There are just certain limits to what can be done with a group of 30-100 students at one time, and there are many economic reasons to keep large lecture classes around. When it comes to studying theory, this method can be highly effective. But what about application? Most students struggle with bridging the gap between theory and application. Lab classes can be one way of connecting the two, but these are often expensive in equipment and instructor time. I strongly feel that every engineering undergraduate needs to do at least one project outside of the classroom. Many schools have some sort of senior design program, but by then, it may be too late, as students have left engineering (the leaky…
My Cooperative Edge
Honestly, I came up with this week’s theme (“how’d you get to where you are today”) based on my desire to write about my own experience. Actually, it was in response to Miss Outlier’s post about variation in engineering education. The recently departed Fluxor (miss ya buddy!) and I had previously discussed how my school wasn’t as thorough on all fronts of electrical engineering; however, our curriculum was supplemented by something called a “co-0p”. And in fact it was the reason I went the the school I did in the first place. So, what’s a co-op? A co-op (or “cooperative education”) is when you take 8-9 months and don’t go to school. Sounds like fun, eh? Just sit around all day and play video games or something? Well, no. Actually, during that time, you’re out in industry working for a company. With a salary and everything. And in most cases, you’re doing actual work for…