I teach a course called Introduction to Engineering in the College of Engineering at UNC Charlotte. With three diverse projects and writing assignments, it’s an work-intensive two-credit hour course that spans about 17 weeks.
Many first-year students have called the class a weed out course. Looking at the pass-fail rate (1 out of 3 repeat the course), you might be tempted to agree.
I disagree.I think the course is way more than a weed out course. Calling it a weeder says it’s extremely difficult for the sake of being extremely difficult. Like jacking the hurdles up when the hurdler’s not looking just to get my jollies. That’s not education. That’s trickery.
The course I teach is not about playing with young minds. It’s a right of passage. A reality check. The math that we use in this college course is basic high school algebra. The papers we require are under five pages. And there are only two of those. Two. We encourage innovative thinking and the use of scientific deduction. We require time management. We require team work. We encourage introspection and independent thinking. We demand hard work. We don’t hold hands. We’re building engineers.
For these reasons the course I teach is not a weed out course because I’m not a gardener. I’m a teacher. And as I teach, I envision myself holding open a door for the wannabe engineers to pass through. I want them to pass through. And no, I’m not going to stick my foot out and trip them when they’re not looking. If they trip, it’s their fault. The road to engineer-hood is a hard one. This course called introduction to engineering, in its small way, gives the students a taste of the life beyond the door.
I think this course is essential to the development of engineers. Of course, I guess I’m a little biased. Your thoughts?
I agree with your sentiment. The only students it truly “weeds out” are those unwilling to put forth the effort required by the most basic of engineering courses and prerequisites, or possibly those under the impression that engineering is all about tinkering in a workshop and doesn’t require much more than mathematical/analytic skills and a bit of imagination. I will say that while I was taking the course myself, some of the tasks and topics seemed a bit tedious and at times unnecessarily complicated, but when I became a TA for the class, the whole structure and purpose made much more sense. ENGR1201 teaches students the most basic principles of studying and eventually working in the field of engineering:
1) Whether or not your task is interesting, easy, or even feasible given the constraints of the situation, you still have to do it and do your best.
2) In anything you do academically or professionally, you have to be able to clearly and effectively communicate your thought process and results. It’s not enough to be able to come up with a good idea; you have to be the researcher, number-cruncher, project manager, and marketing person if you want anyone to take your work seriously in the today’s competitive market.
3) Students think that given the workload and pace of the course that 1201 should be a 3 or 4 credit course, but in the real world you’re never guaranteed to get the credit you may feel you deserve for the amount of effort you put in.
And as for the required reading of Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, it’s a collection of life lessons that most 17-18 year olds can’t yet appreciate, but that the adult and returning students in the class have learned to live by through trial and error.
It may be a bit of a shock to some, but the level of difficulty presented in 1201 is nothing compared to that which the students will face in the years that follow freshman year.
I’ll conclude my tyrannical rant by saying this: it is not the job of a college professor to guide students step-by-step through the learning process, but merely to introduce new ideas and opportunities through which those students can take ownership of their education and eventually earn the right to be called an engineer. I think the ENGR1201 teachers, yourself included, are shining examples of this work ethic. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Rachael, for your detailed comment. Your insight from both sides of the table, so to speak, is invaluable. I truly appreciate your feedback. Keep moving forward.