”The Lego song is a striking description of the theme ‘pleasures of engineering’,” explains discussion leader Botte Jellema, opening the symposium evening.
The song’s four line refrain does incorporate a core engineering feeling: ”You can build anything out of Lego: a boat, a plane and a train. A house with a real roof, yes, playing with Lego is fun!” [lyrics translated from Dutch]
During the symposium ‘Heroic Engineering’, the central theme to emerge was the joy that the profession excites. Or more precisely: the enjoyment the profession should excite % not everyone in the room or on the panel was convinced that engineers experience professional fulfillment. The discussion revolved around the book, ‘Existential Pleasures of Engineering’, written by panelist, Sam Florman, in 1976!
The two students on the panel had read the book to prepare for the symposium. Eline van Maanen (a third-year industrial design engineering student) is astonished that after three years of studying she has had to discover from a book that it’s fun to be an engineer % and to become one. Florman emphasizes that it’s more likely that there’s something wrong with the engineering course than with the profession itself. In the United States, this can be explained by the historical involvement the Army has with engineering.
”The first engineering education came into existence in an Army camp.” Florman makes a comparison with a ‘boot camp’, where order and discipline are drilled into the ‘raw recruits’.
Chaos
In the 1960s, the attitude and tone of engineering studies changed; but even today much can be improved by using experimental teaching methods and design education to make students more enthusiastic.
The other guest on the panel, John Ehrenfeld, also sees the current situation in a historical perspective. ”I studied chemistry at MIT, because ever since I was four I was possessed by the smell hanging in my father’s brewery.”
Nowadays, the motives for studying technology are very different, and technology’s role in society has changed. Technology, policy and management student, Roel van Raak, thinks that it’s necessary to change the culture to give students more professional enjoyment. ”It%s really easy, especially for a student, to blame the system or professors. Maybe students also need to make a cultural switch.” Florman thinks this will be difficult: a third of all students become engineers because of future career opportunities, a third out of a fascination for technology, and the rest for a mixture of the two.
Generally, it seems that the passion for technology at TU Delft is lukewarm at best; that is, until Professor Pieter Kruit rises amidst the assembled audience to put in a good word for his profession. ”Of course, times have changed and students no longerenroll because they disassembled their motorcycles when they were kids. But the enjoyment of the profession hasn’t lessened because of that.” For Kruit, the pleasure is mainly in the practical solution of problems. ”Joy is creating something with paper and pencil that doesn’t exist yet.” Society would collapse if technology weren’t constantly improving. ”Society is striving for total chaos. We engineers are the only ones that prevent that.”
That statement neatly encapsulates the feelings expressed at the symposium: Technology is still great, because ”playing with Lego is fun!”
”The Lego song is a striking description of the theme ‘pleasures of engineering’,” explains discussion leader Botte Jellema, opening the symposium evening. The song’s four line refrain does incorporate a core engineering feeling: ”You can build anything out of Lego: a boat, a plane and a train. A house with a real roof, yes, playing with Lego is fun!” [lyrics translated from Dutch]
During the symposium ‘Heroic Engineering’, the central theme to emerge was the joy that the profession excites. Or more precisely: the enjoyment the profession should excite % not everyone in the room or on the panel was convinced that engineers experience professional fulfillment. The discussion revolved around the book, ‘Existential Pleasures of Engineering’, written by panelist, Sam Florman, in 1976!
The two students on the panel had read the book to prepare for the symposium. Eline van Maanen (a third-year industrial design engineering student) is astonished that after three years of studying she has had to discover from a book that it’s fun to be an engineer % and to become one. Florman emphasizes that it’s more likely that there’s something wrong with the engineering course than with the profession itself. In the United States, this can be explained by the historical involvement the Army has with engineering.
”The first engineering education came into existence in an Army camp.” Florman makes a comparison with a ‘boot camp’, where order and discipline are drilled into the ‘raw recruits’.
Chaos
In the 1960s, the attitude and tone of engineering studies changed; but even today much can be improved by using experimental teaching methods and design education to make students more enthusiastic.
The other guest on the panel, John Ehrenfeld, also sees the current situation in a historical perspective. ”I studied chemistry at MIT, because ever since I was four I was possessed by the smell hanging in my father’s brewery.”
Nowadays, the motives for studying technology are very different, and technology’s role in society has changed. Technology, policy and management student, Roel van Raak, thinks that it’s necessary to change the culture to give students more professional enjoyment. ”It%s really easy, especially for a student, to blame the system or professors. Maybe students also need to make a cultural switch.” Florman thinks this will be difficult: a third of all students become engineers because of future career opportunities, a third out of a fascination for technology, and the rest for a mixture of the two.
Generally, it seems that the passion for technology at TU Delft is lukewarm at best; that is, until Professor Pieter Kruit rises amidst the assembled audience to put in a good word for his profession. ”Of course, times have changed and students no longerenroll because they disassembled their motorcycles when they were kids. But the enjoyment of the profession hasn’t lessened because of that.” For Kruit, the pleasure is mainly in the practical solution of problems. ”Joy is creating something with paper and pencil that doesn’t exist yet.” Society would collapse if technology weren’t constantly improving. ”Society is striving for total chaos. We engineers are the only ones that prevent that.”
That statement neatly encapsulates the feelings expressed at the symposium: Technology is still great, because ”playing with Lego is fun!”
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