Oscilloscope Opt
2009
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Oscilloscope Opt
Scientists and Engineers - Two Different Breeds
Last week I posted an article on Myths and Realities of Childhood education. On similar lines, I would like to bring out another important but neglected issue - titled as "Scientists and Engineers - two different breeds".
A few years back when I was addressing a decent sized gathering organized by CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) at Ahmedabad, I coined and discussed this issue. We need to identify the gap and the difference in needs between the scientists and the engineers. Our syllabi is indifferent and our methods are inadequate to identify if a student is interested to become a scientist or an engineer. I'm not blaming the system, but am appealing to initiate the change that is long over due.
I would like to give a practical example that you can easily relate with. An electronics and tele communication engineer in their syllabi has Laplace transforms, Fourier series (study on waves and frequencies). They score very well in these subjects since they are mathematics oriented This is excellent, there is nothing wrong about it, but they do not understand the principles behind it. A few of these engineers had an opportunity or the need to use these theories in their 25 to 30 years of industrial experience. Surprisingly it won't be beyond 1%. And these 1% are supposed to be scientists and not engineers. On the contrary, when I asked the gathering of engineering students and fresh engineers - how many of them knows to set up an oscilloscope to measure frequencies and what other test equipments are they familiar with - they could only bend their heads down. The inference from this example is that we waste our time in teaching same thing to two different sets of people whose needs are different and the impact is - we neither get excellent scientists nor practical engineers.
This calls for creation of specific courses to scientists and more practical courses to engineers. One may say that we have Bachelors and Masters of Science. Please note that the majority of this population is joining B.Sc or M.Sc., because they did not get their seats in engineering and so they opted for their B.Sc and M.Sc.
My recommendation is that we need a specific method to identify scientists in an early ageand have objective courses for them to bring in the scientists in them - which is the need of the century. Scientists and Engineers - they are two different breeds and let us not replace the absence of one with the other.
Please look forward to my next article on 'Home schooling - Opportunities and Challenges'. Thanks and stay tuned..
Dr. PM Anavaratham
About the Author
Doctorate in Econometrics (Mathematical economics- specialised in avaiation) with a degree in Mathematics, engineering and management. Having over 28 Years of experience in various fields including IT/ ITES/ BPO and KPO. An active guest lecturer and an accepted public speaker.
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