Abstract
A VERY interesting discussion followed the paper on the training of engineers given by Sir Theodore Morison on Oct. 29 before the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders; and a report of it has now been published by the Institution. Those engaging in the discussion were representative of every branch of the profession, and while on some questions differences of opinion were manifest, there was a number of interesting points on which opinion appeared to be practically unanimous. Among these was the general agreement that all university students of engineering should have at least one year's works experience before beginning their university training, and that during this period evening classes should be taken in mathematics and physics with the view of conserving the habit of study engendered at school. This plan has been advocated for many years by a number of those engaged in university teaching, and it is of interest to know that such procedure now appears to be so generally approved among practising engineers who have studied the question of engineering training. Its advantages are many. It brings a student to his university course with a realisation of the bearing of its scientific training on his future career, such as, in the majority of cases, increases notably his keenness in the work. It gives him, at the most plastic stage of his life, intimate contact with the working man whom in future years he will probably have to control, while the routine work and drudgery which is usually connected with this first period of training is likely to weed out any one whose real interests are not in engineering, and to give him the opportunity of withdrawing before much time has been wasted.
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How Should an Engineer be Trained?. Nature 119, 225–226 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119225a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119225a0