A History of Engineering Education in the United States

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Drs. Reynolds and Seely are examining the history of American engineering education from the early 19th century through the present. Although engineering educators have studied the state of engineering education in particular eras (indeed, hardly any profession has studied its educational apparatus as frequently), no interpretive history of engineering education exists. Using archival collections, interviews with engineering educators, and an enormous secondary literature contained both in engineering periodicals and published monographs, Drs. Reynolds and Seely are preparing a synthetic history of engineering education. They see several common themes running through the history of engineering education. Their examination of these continuities and the different responses of engineering educators to them provide the basic framework for the study. Examples of these continuities are the struggle to train engineers within a four-year curriculum and the associated tensions between practical and general education. Other continuities include debates over the place of research and graduate programs, the role of industry, government, and professional societies in engineering education, and the ways educational institutions should respond to changing engineering "manpower" concerns. Although technology and society have changed significantly over the past century and a half, the similarities between the problems faced by contemporary engineering educators and those of the past are such that an historical perspective is important.