[sdiy] Can your *really* teach "Engineering"?

[Jerry Gray-Eskue]

Can your *really* teach "Engineering"?

NO, it comes from within.

Most of the people that put us on the moon did not have a degree, but were
in fact the true epitome of an engineer, this whole philosophy is not
necessarily about the knowledge learned but more about finding paths that
make the concept real. They mastered the math involved and took ownership of
their results, they were proud but humble strong but willing to accept a
mistake they made, they were putting man where no one had gone before and
they felt the risk to life in there own bones. Equipped with slide rules,
concepts and transistor computers they orchestrated the round trip time and
time again. Where did this skills, knowledge and expertise come from? Not a
college, not training but a thirst for knowledge that is absent in the
society today. The USA has become a nation of slackers lacking the drive to
look behind the curtain, to see beyond the surface, to dream beyond the
apparent realty, to reach for the stars.

The "old farts" such as my self grew up on a stream of stories and tales of
humans breaking out of the mold, extending beyond the "known" and
accomplishing things of great significance. 40 years have gone by since "man
set foot on the moon" and we are stuck on this dirt ball called earth.

I have to think that something is very wrong, what is going on in our
education system that we are not progressing on this front? I have to wonder
if the people at large are not looking to the past in various ways tiring to
find the branch in time that put us here with a view to rewinding history
and taking an other branch. Maybe that is what the DIY is really all about,
a rewind and redo...

--Jerry

-----Original Message-----
From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of David G. Dixon
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:41 PM
To: 'Dave Manley'; synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: RE: [sdiy] Can your *really* teach "Engineering"?


> And further, the best companies to work for actively encourage employees
> to have outside interests, and to *use* the company resources in their
> pursuit.

That definitely does NOT describe the modern university, unfortunately.
I've taught in the same university department for 16 years, and I couldn't
tell you whether any of my colleagues even have any serious outside
interests, let alone what they might be, and they have made it crystal clear
that they are not interested to hear about mine.  It wasn't always this way,
but it seems that the modern university attracts fairly single-minded
people.  We don't even go out for coffee anymore, except in little research
cliques.  It's pretty sad.

Part of the appeal of synth diy for me is that it allows me to escape the
stultifying work environment and interact with people who aren't embarrassed
to share their enthusiasm.

_______________________________________________
Synth-diy mailing list
Synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
http://dropmix.xs4all.nl/mailman/listinfo/synth-diy