Reading Response #1

Brandon Grayson

Buchanan (1986), "Education or Training? The Dilemma of British Engineering in the 19th Century"

One aspect of this article that really caught my attention was the note about the lack of social life that these engineers had. Despite the lack of importance their occupation held in the eyes of other Brits, these dedicated workers (in my opinion) were determined to prove its significance. The time and effort to crank out the quantity of products that they worked on is simply amazing - this attests to how much of a significant portion of their time they spent doing what they loved and truly cared about, they occupation. This sacrifice of was completely necessary in order to achieve the advances in British engineering at the time, with the technology and education for engineering at the time. On page 6 it notes the amount of time and effort put into their work. Many any engineers even sacrificed nice homes for their family just to gain respect for their craft. One passage states, “Work, then, played a paramount role in the lives of the 19^th-century engineers, and little was allowed to compete for their attention with professional commitments. Some began to think of building country houses for themselves, and a few, like Armstrong at Cragside and Folwer at Braemore, succeeded.” These men’s dedication and commitment to work is very commendable and has obviously set the standard and paved the path what engineering has become since. Overall, this piece was very informative and insightful. It was very interesting as well, I knew very little on the history of engineering, let alone the history of British engineering and its evolution to becoming a respectable craft amongst other occupations. Before reading this I would have assumed that engineering would have always been a highly credible occupation considering Europe’s historical appreciation for arts

Page (1998), “The Formation of an Engineer: The British Method of Creating Engineers" Page.pdf

Although very dry, this reading was very informative as to how British engineers come to be. Their paths to attain different levels of standing are extremely tedious and I have that much more respect for these men and women. To my understanding, the process of becoming a professional engineer is quite different in Britain from the U.S. One interesting point that was emphasized in the reading was the importance of knowledge learned from experience by British engineers in training. One reference to this is on page two; it states, “ They must also write a 3,000 word report on how their work has formed them as engineers. Note the terminology that is used: their formation as an engineer. It is a quite deliberate choice of words – choen to reflect the British view that an engineer is formed out of the sum total of their experiences, not just the initial training they have received.” From a non engineering perspective, I completely agree with this policy. From my knowledge, the process of becoming a professional engineer in the U.S is based mostly on education and knowledge (passing the FE and the PE). I personally, would feel much more comfortable hiring an engineer with tons of hours of experience in the work place and education over an amateur who has just had the experience of education.