Tom Jenkins
Lifetime Supporting Member
Among other things (most of which I'll never confess to!) I'm an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I was inspired to solicit some opinions from the forum by this thread:
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=70375
The basic question is the appropriate balance between theory and practice in the standard four year curriculum. For example, the graduating engineers at UW are required to know calculus (which I haven't used in 25 years at least) but are not able to read or create engineering drawings (which I have to do every week).
So, the question is, what is the proper balance between theory and practice for the engineering student. I'm interested in opinions from the forum participants. I'm interested in this from BOTH the perspective of long term career growth as well as day-1 productivity.
1) I don't want this to be just engineer bashing - we can start another thread for that.
2) I don't want this to be just technician and mechanic bashing - we can start another thread for that too!
I'll withhold my opinion for a couple of days to avoid pre-prejudicing the group, but I promise I'll give my perspective.
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=70375
The basic question is the appropriate balance between theory and practice in the standard four year curriculum. For example, the graduating engineers at UW are required to know calculus (which I haven't used in 25 years at least) but are not able to read or create engineering drawings (which I have to do every week).
So, the question is, what is the proper balance between theory and practice for the engineering student. I'm interested in opinions from the forum participants. I'm interested in this from BOTH the perspective of long term career growth as well as day-1 productivity.
1) I don't want this to be just engineer bashing - we can start another thread for that.
2) I don't want this to be just technician and mechanic bashing - we can start another thread for that too!
I'll withhold my opinion for a couple of days to avoid pre-prejudicing the group, but I promise I'll give my perspective.