[TheForge] Hobo Nickels ot ot

[Andrew Vida]

Coop education is a great thing.  I agree about requiring it, at least 
for certain majors like engineering.  When I attended engineering school 
(USC and UC Davis) during the 70s, hands-on was a four letter word in 
college educational circles.  The great geniuses of American edumacation 
thought that knowing how to actually do some of the things that students 
learned about was, well... "quaint".  UC Davis was one of the tippy top 
engineering schools on the planet in those days (probably still is) and 
as far as I was concerned they sucked ass.  Books galore and NO hands 
on.  USC was actually worse in this respect.  My classes bored the life 
out of me.  How I made it through 4 years of that without winding up on 
a rope is proof that miracles in fact happen.

I came into those programs having been trained in HS to run lathe, mill, 
grinder and all that.  I thought college was going to expand on those 
abilities.  It didn't and I was pretty disappointed by that.  When I was 
a kid, I remember speaking with real engineers and they were clear that 
when they attended school in the 30s and 40s, they were required to know 
how to do real things and not just spout off theory.  My generation got 
mainly screwed up the... well, you know.

I spent 3 more years at CCNY doing an industrial education degree.  I 
was in my element.  Lots of DOING rather than bullshitting.  It was such 
a good time, I felt guilty getting grades for it.

Anyhow, coop education helps give students some real world experience 
before graduation.  All else equal, I would hire a graduate with such 
experience over one without in a heartbeat.

Grover.Richardson at gtri.gatech.edu wrote:
> I work here, but wasn't smart enough to attend<G>.  Southern Tech, now
> aka Southern Polysomethingortheothertoolongtoremember<G>.  We have some
> great students that work for us.  I think that all students should be
> required to co-op.  Book learning is important, but being able to apply
> that in the real world is where the hammer hits the hot metal, instead
> of the cold anvil<G>.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Andrew Vida
> Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 9:43 AM
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Hobo Nickels
> 
> My nephew got his PhD in EE from GA Tech (all his degrees in fact).  He 
> was bummed because Duke didn't take him for undergrad.  Turned out GT 
> was the better school in the end.  Life has its turns. 
> 
> 
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-- 

	-Andy V.

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