Why do so few engineering curricula spend significant
amounts time on the social impacts of engineering work? At Mines we take NHV
and Human Systems, and then we have to take three other LAIS/EBGN electives. That’s
it. And even though that is a mere five
classes (not even enough to receive a minor), so many within the student body
find it tedious.
As far as I see it, engineering is the application of
research based sciences so that the technologies and knowledge can be used to
benefit people in some way. This could mean safer technologies in dangerous
jobs, more fuel efficient machines, more effective methods to extract dangerous
substances from water, and so many other applications. Why do so many of my
peers moan and groan about these classes that are trying to get them to open
their eyes to what is ultimately the whole reason they have a job? If we did
everything perfectly for everyone, we wouldn’t need engineers!
It was brought up that often engineers shouldn’t have to
think about the social side, that’s what people in public relations and
marketing are for. I think that’s a copout answer. Assuming someone else will
do the job you should be contributing to could end in a tragedy or negative
community backlash. If you’re the one proposing this technology, you need to understand
the importance and the implications of your engineering. Very few know better
than you about how this thing works; why waste time training someone in PR to
understand the science so they can analyze the social factors? You already know
the science; push yourself to analyze the social factors!
As I approach my impending graduation, I find myself looking
for companies that understand the importance of the social implications of
their work. We do not engineer in a vacuum; someone out there will be affected
by the work we put out there. I realized very recently that I would love to work in a multi-disciplinary
corporate social responsibility role. I want to work on a team that looks at
issues plaguing our stakeholders and use my technical skills to engineer a
solution where it’s possible, or use my “soft skills” to communicate a solution
that both sides can agree to. I see no purpose in struggling through four years
at Mines just to ignore the 7 billion reasons I entered this field in the first
place.
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ReplyDeleteWe have discussed this thought before in McBride classes, but I had always thought that the negative image the the LAIS classes get at Mines is completely spurring perception and it seems that many times the professors let us get away with having this image. Our professors in our engineering classes let us only think about the engineering side and don't try and bring in the information learned in our LAIS classes into our engineering classes. (or this is typically not the case)
ReplyDeleteBecause of the idea that our engineering professors do not put emphasis on the social side, we do not feel the need to take our LAIS classes seriously. So typically there are two responses from the professors that teach the social sciences either, they make the classes easier or they try and make the classes almost impossible to balance with our engineering course load. Both of these extremes turn students off from wanting to take the classes seriously or truly learn about them. Some professors understand and have a good balance between the two extremes but these are few and far between.
This is a sad realization, because some of the most applicable things I have learned like Brianne said are from my non engineering classes. These were the classes that I learned how to communicate with other people which it seems that engineers famously lack. So to be able to fix this innate problem with Engineering students not wanting to apply the social sciences in corporate life, the system needs to be changed first and the link needs to be strengthened between the social sciences and the engineering classes.