Page:Engineering as a vocation (IA cu31924004245605).pdf/87

 ment and can afford to employ a smaller number of instructors, who should receive larger pay. Owing to the very large number of students and the resulting large number of underpaid instructors the best trained engineers are not always to be found among the graduates of the larger institutions with their well-equipped laboratories and shops. Many kings among engineers have been turned out of schools not sufficiently equipped according to modern standards, but with the log on which Mark Hopkins sat and the faithful old teacher whose heart is in his work sitting at one end, ready to prove that after all a sound training in the fundamentals of engineering science goes a long way when the material to work upon is of proper caliber. A good workman can do fine work with a very lean equipment of tools when his material is good. The best workman with the finest tools, however, does only a botch job with poor material. More care should be exercised in the admission of students and the publicity managers should be cautioned to be careful in advertising the engineering courses.

In European schools there seems to be no rule about the granting of degrees. The custom seems to be to give a diploma to a graduate, who then styles himself "Dipl. Eng.," and after he has acquired some standing and presents a thesis to show he possesses capacity to do original work, he is granted the degree of Doctor of Engineering,