Perception problem dogs engineering
By John Dodge, Editor in Chief -- EDN, April 28, 2005
Luring college-bound students into engineering has never been more difficult. From an attractiveness standpoint, engineering enjoyed brief life during Internet's early years, but has since returned to the more conservative realm that encourages only math and science geeks. Since 1990, the number of bachelor's degrees in engineering has dropped 8%. More disturbing is a 20% decline in math degrees (Link 1). The reason for these declines is twofold, according to Geoffrey Orsak, School of Engineering dean at SMU (Southern Methodist University): One is that high-school students often shun science and math; most avoid taking them in college if they can. The other problem is image, and we can do something to improve it, contends Orsak, who is the antithesis of the engineering stereotype that, fairly or unfairly, has long tarnished the profession's image.
"Most believe it's one of the toughest majors, and so we are competing over a very small group of kids. But clearly engineering has an image problem even more than the perception that it's a challenging discipline," he says. That salaries for new engineers are among the highest compared with other professions doesn't seem to matter. "People see it as a bridge career from lower working class to a middle-class career. Once you reach that level, you want to go beyond it into law, medicine, and business leadership," he says.
That idea surprises me. I always admired people with a strong aptitude for math and science, probably because the two were not my strong suits. My civil-engineer uncle built interstates for 39 years, and I admire him. As a 19-year-old, his formidable math skills and intestinal fortitude landed him in the navigator's seat of a B-24 during World War II and in an Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute classroom after that on the GI Bill. My 17-year-old son just aced the SAT II test in math. What does he want to be? A lawyer.
The decline in US engineers has become more noticeable because developing economies in countries such as China are cranking out new ones at four to six times the rate in the United States. And strong growth in retirements as the engineering workforce ages will compound the problem. More than half of the engineers in the United States are older than 40, says the NSB report.
What can the United States do about this problem? Clearly, we can't lower the academic bar, so we have to instead spruce up engineering's image. "We have to celebrate our people. As long as we continue to view engineering as about widgets and not about people, we will have a perception problem," says Orsak. Engineering needs highly visible heroes, just as the business world has Michael Dell and Bill Gates. Such heroes motivate students to take a similar path. But engineering has plenty of Dells and Gates. The problem is that they generally don't seek recognition, except, perhaps, from peers. There are plenty of successful engineers, but they either labored in obscurity or took another path. Former General Electric Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch is a chemical engineer. Jimmy Carter is a nuclear engineer. Yasir Arafat was a civil engineer (Link 2). "If a doctor develops a new surgical technique, we celebrate it. We don't do that in engineering. I could name 10 famous doctors, but I could not name 10 famous engineers," says Orsak. That's why SMU has partnered with Texas Instruments to develop the Infinity Program, which attempts to dispel the myths and stereotypes that plague engineering in high-school classrooms (Link 3). The program trains high-school math and science teachers to make engineering fun, cool, interesting, and accessible to broader range of prospects.
That the numbers of new engineers hasn't changed for decades indicates the magnitude of the problem. And what we do now to convince more high-school students to choose engineering won't pay off in national competitiveness for a decade. Currently, approximately 65,000 engineers a year graduate from US schools, says Orsak. "It's never been over 100,000 and never below 50,000 for the past 30 years. But many more kids go to college today, and we thought a rising tide would lift all boats."
Do you have an engineering hero? Write me at john.dodge@reedbusiness.com.
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Our problem is not just perception. The main problem is that our public schools are not producing students with the necessary skills to be engineers. My husband is an advanced design lighting engineer. He used to work for G.M. but since G.M. forced him into early retirement, he is working on an advanced LED design for a Canadian company. He became an engineer because when he graduated from high school back in 1969, he actually had attained the language, math and science skills necessary to succeed in engineering courses in college. THAT IS NOT HAPPENING TODAY! Our schools are producing substandard pupils who cannot do basic math functions in their head, who cannot write legibly, who cannot spell and even worse, do not know that they cannot do these things. As a result, they enter college with big dreams of becoming an engineer, and they soon leave those classes and opt for computer classes because they can't cut the advanced math and chemistry and physics etc. Get realistic. China and Japan produce high school graduates that have the skills necessary to become engineers. U.S. high schools do not.
Kay Shannon - 2011-21-2 09:27:48 PST -
John - thanks for your article in the 4-28 issue of EDN. As you can see, I'm running a bit behind in my technical reading.
Engineering (let's say electrical engineering, to be specific) as a technical profession is ebbing in the U.S. for the obvious reason that outsourcing to low-wage countries is now a practical reality. As a reflection of this, for the first time in U.S. history, EE salaries actually dropped last year, not only in purchasing power but in absolute terms.
It makes little sense anymore to go into electronics, for example, unless you plan on working your way up the management ladder, where outsourcing becomes almost by definition impractical and you'll be managing design teams in India, China, eastern Europe, etc. but not doing any technical work yourself. Porobably power and civil engineering will survive as exceptions. Anything that can't be conveniently outsourced.
'Perception' has nothing to do with it. You greatly underestimate the perceptibility of the more intelligent high school students if you think a little bit of misleading propaganda will change their view. They're not nearly as gullible as the average U.S. voter, for example.
No polemics against this new reality from me - I'm retired! But I do feel badly for the brighter high school students to whom electrical engineering might have offered a solid technical future. They will instead emulate your 17-year old or enter medicine or business. Tell you what - so would I!
Rudy Dankwort
Sr Staff Scientist (ret).
Phoenix
Rudy Dankwort - 2005-20-6 11:33:00 PDT -
In China, no one asks if being engineer is the most important job in society. Everyone knows it is and the elite ruling Politburo reflects this: 100% engineers (see page 30 in June 2005 IEEE Spectrum). Yes that is right. ALL the ruling members are engineers. Is it any wonder that they are running over us economically? They are being run by people who understand technology. We are not. Unfortunately for us, the shortage is real and it is being driven by the factors that the other readers have so well elucidated. We in America are about to discover the harsh reality that our technology is in the heads of the engineers. You lose those heads, you lose the technology. The Chinese realize this. We are in for some very hard times.
Anthony Mendoza - 2005-16-6 20:42:00 PDT -
What a difficult subject! Some of my thoughts on the matter:
1. Engineers are born not made. A 'true' engineer is turned on (at a very young age) by the fun of science and engineering, of playing with things both with his hands and with his mind, and is intriquied by the world and how things work. He doesn't need to be convinced of the fun of engineering - he actively pursues it!
2. Based on premise #1, we should support this interest at home and in school. I had no special schooling in engineering until I went to college - I just knew I wanted to do it!
3. We need to provide a career for the new engineer - he should be reasonably sure of finding and keeping a reasonable job with a reasonable salary and with reasonable demands on his life (i.e. 80 hr weeks are NOT conducive to having a normal life!).
4. Other professions do NOT automatically make 2 to 3 times what an engineer does (eg. real estate agents). While it is true that, for example, electricians at utility companies can pull down $60K to $70K per year, they only do so with lots of OT. The paring down of other industries has also made it somewhat more difficult to find and keep such jobs (It is tough everywhere!).
5. I do think that industry does not value engineers as much as they used to - at least that is my opinion.
6. Outsourcing is hurting the profession and will continue to do so. But that will correct itself to some extent. It does mean that we here in the US have some tough times ahead.
As for my background, I am recently retired after 42 years as an electrical engineer - design (RF and other), management, electrical power and industrial controls,etc - everything I could do to stay employed and raise a family over those 42 years. Laid off twice, fired once but, thanks to luck and help from a higher power, only was out of work for less than 3 months total during that period. I love building things and was always happiest designing circuits and systems. Loved going to school too (BSEE, MSEE, MBA).
Robert Groh - 2005-16-6 12:07:00 PDT -
Hi John,
I enjoyed your article, but I feel it is not purely a perception issue as to why there are fewer engineers. Look at engineering salaries and effort compared to other fields. My much younger cousin graduated from school 4-5 years ago and works for a video game company and makes > $90K/year. My daughter graduated as an accountant 2 years ago and a co-worker graduated 5 years ago and now has his CPA and makes > $100K/year. Why would I tell my other 2 kids to work there butt off to become engineers when for the same effort they can make 2X - 5X the money! With unions at the car companies I can work as a janitor and make more than the starting salary of an engineer!
Also look who tends to control engineers salaries - Business majors who don't seem to understand what it is that you do in the 1st place. I live in an area with a lot of well to do business major people, and at the local public high school most of the students drive to school in some very expensive cars. So what kid with half a brain is going to work as hard as necessary to get an engineering degree when they see the other majors make more money.
Additionally look at school admission and grades required to get in a "good" school. I went to UCLA (1980) and by the time I graduated my High School GPA would not have been good enough for an incoming freshman to get into the school of Engineering at UCLA.
As a note when the annual salary listing come out I have always been on the high end of engineers salaries, but it is still a lot less than other professions.
- Bill Schatz -
Zebra Technologies
Bill Schatz - 2005-20-5 10:54:00 PDT
