Engineers have a bit of a bad reputation as curmudgeonly, paper-pushing nerds. But they’re not all paper-pushing nerds. (The jury is still out on curmudgeonly.) Part of opening engineering up to students and finding a way to interest them in the the industry is dispelling the myth that engineering is boring.
Among students (and in general), engineering has a serious image problem. Other countries have high-ranking engineers in the government and in the public eye, while the U.S. lags behind. Unfortunately, the science and engineering budgets are often the target when it comes to saving money.
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What this all means is that it’s important for educators to be creating well-rounded and eager students. It may seem like an obvious answer, but it’s a challenging task to emphasis that engineering can change the world.
Being an engineer is, “the best way to help a large number of people on the planet,” says engineering teacher Muriel Kolker, in an exclusive video with ECN. Kolker, who teaches an all-girl engineering course in addition to her co-ed classes, also studies how engineering classes in high school can directly affect career paths and dropout rates.
ECN visited Kolker at her Morristown, NJ classroom to talk a little bit about how she goes about teaching students that engineers are the ones that solve world crises and innovate medical miracles to a group of teenagers who think all engineers do is build bridges.
And educating kids on the basics of engineering while they’re in high school actually works. Kids who are taking these engineering classes in high school have a much lower drop out rate in college engineering programs than those who have no experience in engineering. Offering up a taste of the challenges of engineering with a healthy dose of reality check is the perfect preparation for college engineering. Plus, it can help narrow down options.
For example, Kolker had a student who decided engineering wasn’t for him, but business engineering was something he was really interested in. That meant that come college-touring time, the student was able to look for schools with that specific program.
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Let’s get real. Every high school student who wants to be an engineer won’t end up as an engineer. But if schools are able to expose students at a younger age to the idea that engineer opens a vast range of employment opportunities, more students will be able to picture themselves as design engineers or aerospace engineers or environmental engineers. The key is showing students that engineering isn’t about sitting behind a desk all day. It’s about building rockets for Space X and engineering the medical technology that allows for breast cancer detection. Yes, it involves a lot of math and physics (and sometime bridge building), but it’s a good career to change the world.
Do you think programs like this make a difference? Leave your response in the comments.