Following the history of engineering education one step further we note the continued establishment of private in stitutions, as the Worcester Polytechnic in 1868, the Stevens Institute in 1871, the Case School of Applied Science in 1881, and the Rose Polytechnic in 1883. The Massachusetts Institute of Technol ogy was chartered in 1861, but not opened until 1865. It received assistance from the Morrill Act, but rapidly grew beyond the limits of a state institution. At the same time colleges and universi ties developed engineering work as a le gitimate branch of professional educa tion. Prof. C. R. Mann in his valuable monograph (Bulletin No. 11 Carnegie Foundation, 1918) sums up the record as follows: "The four schools of 1860 increased to 17 by 1870, to 41 by 1871, to 70 by 1872, and to 85 by 1880. Now there are 126 engineering schools of college grade, of which 46 are land grant, colleges operating under the Mor rill Act, 44 are professional schools in universities, 20 are attached to colleges, and 16 are independent. The number of students has increased from 1,400 in 1870 to 33,000 in 1917, and the annual number of graduates in engineering from 100 in 1870 to 4,300." The first engineering course offered was in civil engineering. In 1828 Professor Eaton lectured on this subject—so des ignated—at the Rensselaer Polytechnic. In 1839 an unsuccessful effort was made to establish a national society of civil en gineers. The American Society of Civil Engineers was established in 1852, and held its first national convention in 1869. Next to civil engineering comes mechan ical engineering in extent of popularity. Electrical engineering and mining en gineering follow next in order. Some institutions offer only one or two courses, others like Columbia University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offer the greatest possible variety. The term engineering has been widened to include every possible phase of scientific work, as chemical, metallurgical, electro chemical, sanitary, textile, automotive, highway, hydraulic, marine, etc.
Engineering schools are in the main co-ordinate with colleges, requiring for admission the completion of a high school course, and giving four years of instruction before conferring the first degree, which corresponds to the degree of B.A. or B.S. in college. Later come special courses widely differentiated leading to higher degrees. The curricu lum is divided between general subjects, as English, mathematics, and modern languages, the fundamental sciences, es pecially chemistry and physics, and tech nical engineering subjects. The propor tion assigned to each group varies with each institution, but the percentage given to technical work has steadily increased. This has necessitated the early differen tiation of the various courses. Often this appears before the end of the first year. It reflects the specialization of modern industry. Another result de plored but not yet corrected is the con gestion of the course. This is one of the pressing problems of engineering ed ucation. The first degree given en gineering students has many varied names, but bachelor of science, bachelor of science in engineering, and bachelor of engineering seem to be the most pop ular. Subsequent courses of study arc
provided covering two or three years and leading to higher specialized degrees as C.E., M.E., E.E., etc.
An interesting experiment in technical education is the co-operative plan of work introduced in the University of Cincinnati in 1906. By this plan prac tical work is united with theoretical throughout the whole course. This plan is described in a Bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Education (1916), No. 37, "The Co-operative System of Education," by C. W. Park. A thorough study of engineering education was made by Prof. C. R. Mann and published in 1918 by the Carnegie Foundation as a special bulletin under the auspices not only of the Carnegie Foundation but of a joint committee on engineering education of the National Engineering Societies.
Technical education is a new form of professional training. It is the direct out growth of the deeper and more general knowledge of the forces of nature—a knowledge which has come forth largely within the last seventy years. Techni cal education is most directly studied in, and functions through, the schools of engineering, although there have devel oped many schools whose teaching is limited to special subjects.
The schools of engineering have grown up co-ordinate with the college of liberal learning. Students enter them directly from the high school. They have not yet become co-ordinate with the professional schools of medicine or of law or of the ology. The present movement, however, is toward making the engineering co-or dinate with the other professional schools—its course being subsequent to the college of liberal learning.
Such an advancement in technical edu cation is the special purpose of many of its supporters.
Engineering schools include several types. Among them are civil, sanitary, mechanical, electrical, and mining engi neering. The tendency of recent years has been to split up these different courses into finer differentiations.
The teaching given in schools of engi neering is largely through laboratories which are, as a rule, well equipped and well administered. Each department us ually is organized with a head and sev eral subordinates. These departments are in most schools co-ordinate with each other—their relationships heading up in a general faculty and a president.
Although the teaching in schools of en gineering is largely technical, yet it is commonly recognized that success in the vocation of the engineer depends quite as largely upon general qualities as upon professional. Answers made by some several thousand engineers in responsO to a circular sent out by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, of New York, respecting the comparative worth of personal attributes and of technical abilities, showed that three-fourths of all those who replied, believe that the general qualities were of higher value than the special. Char acter, a sense of responsibility, integrity, common sense, judgment, initiative, effi ciency, thoroughness, industry and un derstanding of men, were declared to have a weight of seventy-five per cent. in any determination of vocational success. Personal character was, in a word, the most comprehensive value.