[Edu-sig] Low Enrollments

[Peter Bowyer]

At 07:35 13/10/2005, Toby Donaldson wrote:
>I think when a kid says "engineering is too hard", they are also
>saying that they don't see the rewards of engineering as very
>significant. I really don't see kids as being afraid to work hard;
>quite the opposite, I am often amazed at how hard students will work
>on something that is interesting and valuable to them.

Could it also be because Engineering is never advertised as being 
creative?  Certainly when I was looking at doing civil & 
environmental engineering it was sold as "You get to direct large 
machines, follow someone else's plans, and make sure the concrete is 
poured in the right place".  OK a bit of an overexaggeration, but no 
creativity or innovation appeared in the description.

I would have loved to study cartography or photography which would 
satisfy my creativity, but neither had good job prospects, so I did 
physics instead (which is supposed to - if you want to employ a 
masters graduate who's done his project on teaching programming to 
unwilling physics undergraduates, contact me).

>Doctors and nurses make a difference every day. This is why they put
>up with grueling work schedules. They love their jobs, and they see
>first-hand the difference they make. The rewards are tangible and
>obvious ("for every death a birth, for every sickness a cure").

Mind you that applies to most jobs, from journalist to author to 
teacher to musician.  I've yet to meet a passionate accountant, which 
leads me back to the role of creativity in a job.

Peter

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