Enhancing Perceptions 2

[PSE]

What (if anything) should be done to enhance the general public's perception of engineers and the engineering profession? How would you go about it?

 

[Hush]

I've seen my local association try numerous things to try to raise the profile of engineering all with little or no success. The trouble is, unlike most other professions, we don't often deal directly with the general public so we don't have that one to one recognition factor. Your average guy on the street could give you the name of a teacher or a doctor or even a lawyer but odds are he couldn't name an engineer.

 

[jproj]

People's perceptions of most occupations come directly from personal experience. That is why everyone knows what a teacher does. Most can relate to a doctor, but the when asked what a certain type of doctor does, (say a Otorhinolaryngologist) most either don't know or respond, "Uh, they take care of sick people?"

Perceptions also come from the media. There are scores of TV shows on teachers, doctors, lawyers, and cops, but I don't recall ever seeing one on engineers (except on TLC or the Discovery channel). Not that I think there should be one. Engineering is not exactly a profession one would enjoy seeing as a mini-series... it's not really an occupation you can sensationalize.

I think the solution to the problem lies in education. Most people either don't understand or care about engineering because they don't see it having an immediate impact on their everyday life. All they know is that the city requires an engineer to sign off on the deck the want to build.

A good way to raise interest in the profession is to target children. At the engineering school I went to, we had an "engineering expo" every year. At expo, all the departments set up stations with demonstrations or experiments to show what an engineer does. Kids from grade school to high school were invited and toured from classroom to classroom learning about the different engineering disciplines.

Though this may help future generations, one has to realize that most people (adults) lead busy lives and don't have the time or interest required to understand how their entire way of life is facilitated by engineers.

Regards,

jproj

 

[quark]

Jproj!

You made me feel good, by that word 'Otorhi.....', for I knew that there are such doctors who are not known by general public.(including me) By the way what does that mean?

Regards,



Repetition is the foundation of technology

 

[jproj]

quark,

It's kinda funny that you say that.... I'm sure you've heard of an Otorhinolaryngologist before! It's the technical name for an ear, nose, and throat doctor. Not that I knew either, I was just trying to make a point (isn't the internet great!)

jproj

 

[quark]

Yup. 100% and thanks for that vocab. And ofcourse you made a very good point.

Regards,

Repetition is the foundation of technology

 

[PSE]

I agree that developing interest in engineering should begin with kids. One of the engineering societies that I belong to has a dedicated website for youngsters and supplies "discovery kits" to educators. We should encourage our professional societies to do what they can to elicit interest in engineering. The trick might be to emphasize more of the fun aspects and kind of slip in some of the educational aspects as well. "Junkyard Wars" on TLC is a good example as they show in simplified form what the teams are facing and need to consider. If you think of the media, other than perhaps the Chief Engineer in any of the "Star Trek" series, Engineers have generally been portrayed unfavorably. Thankfully though, I don't think we are on par with the "Mad Scientist".

Regards

 

[cups]

When I was a Kid I had a meccano set as well as other building ang science kits. No computer games in those days. There must be an opportunity to reinvent these toys for our kids to play with. Engineers are born. they needs toys to develop their skills.