News & Analysis
Commentary: Engineers need an image makeover
Bill Schweber
5/2/2008 1:43 PM EDT
This became clear when I was trapped and had to watch an episode of the dreadful "Beauty and the Geek." The show's premise is that there is something wrong with the geeks, but with some help they can be made to be cool, if not actually hot. If I suggested that perhaps the beauties could benefit from a knowledge makeover, I'd be dismissed as, well, a geek.
It wasn't always this way. Until about the 1960s, engineers were not only honored, they were respected. They were guests on popular TV shows for their accomplishments, not as oddballs to be mocked. Earlier in the 20th century, engineers were accorded more respect and stature than any other professionals.
We've come a long way from that world.
The Associated Press has announced it will hire 20 more reporters solely to cover celebrities, and they don't mean scientists or engineers. And I'll bet if eight-year-old Carson Page—the Editor's Choice ACE Award winner for his impressive work with FPGAs—ever appears on the Leno or Letterman show, he'll be there as an oddity, not a role model.
How did this transformation happen?
I think we are victims of our own success. In the past few decades, we've made such incredible progress in so many areas, at an ever-increasing rate, that we've made it all look so very easy. The public is no longer impressed by feats of engineering: They think all this amazing gadgetry just happens by itself, because we've made it seem that way.
What can we do? It wouldn't be practical, or advisable, to squelch scientific and technological progress. But perhaps professional societies, universities and high-tech companies could team to launch an image campaign. One message might be: "If it weren't for the nerd next door, you wouldn't have (fill in the blank)." Here's another: "Celebrity fades. Knowledge lasts."
As with so many engineering problems, there is no simple solution. Perhaps it is not even viewed as a problem. Our culture has moved to a new perception of what it values, and it's not us.
If that's the case, we have only ourselves to blame. But we owe it to ourselves, and certainly to the next generation of innovators like Carson Page, to do something about it.
|
|
|
|
|
Faisal Mateen
5/2/2008 5:12 PM EDT
Mr. Schweber rightly points out about the lack of stardom status for engineers as compared to artists / celebreties.
Societies now reward innovation more than routinely well defined orderly steps. Engineering work, most of times falls under this later category => a sequential improvement over the previous state.
Moore's Law is one example: Its been held for so long consistently that its effects are taken for granted. So e.g. a faster / 8-core processor could be a significant endeavour for the engineering community but for masses, it was supposed to happen anyways.
Sign in to Reply
Carl_S
5/5/2008 12:19 PM EDT
The general public does not understand what engineers do. That's true of most professions, except surgeons and trial lawyers, because they make TV shows about them. It's just a fact of life that we have to deal with.
We could chip in and launch a campaign to educate the public about engineers, but to what end? So you don't have to spend that extra minute at a party explaining what you do?
Your employer knows what you do, and pays you accordingly. There isn't any tangible benefit from publicizing the engineering profession.
Sign in to Reply
Old Fart Peter
5/6/2008 4:26 PM EDT
The US currently produces far too few new engineers and scientists. As an immigrant myself (from the UK) over 40 years ago, with three children raised in the US, and soon to be dependent on just Social Security and my investments, i.e. primarily on the US economy, this worries me. I think a major improvement in the image of scientists and engineers would be good for the long-term economic health of the country, and certainly replacing the current fashion for celebrity (fundamentally empty) and sports heroes (few openings, and usually ephemeral) by an enhanced appreciation of real contributors to modern living would have to be good.
Sign in to Reply
frankmlinar
5/7/2008 9:02 AM EDT
I love the Big Band Theory. And I really don't care much what Hollywood thinks of me. 99% of their shows are dumb. And don't get me started on reality shows. I get paid well. I'm happy.
Sign in to Reply
frankmlinar
5/7/2008 9:03 AM EDT
Oops. Big Bang Theory
Sign in to Reply
AnalogDude
5/7/2008 11:43 AM EDT
An engineer seeks not excitement or adventure but knowledge and enlightenment. Pay no attention to transient celebrity headlines, you see our value embodied in the $3000 HD LCDs and $400+ Iphones. I for one don't want any cameras following me around when I leave the house...
Sign in to Reply
tb1
5/7/2008 12:24 PM EDT
I've got an idea. How about a big-budget Hollywood hit movie, starring an engineer. He could design and build something--like some kind of iron suit that flies.
(I like the Big Band Theory myself).
Sign in to Reply
Mark6120
5/8/2008 12:18 PM EDT
1. Design Squad on PBS - enough said.
2. In OTHER COUNTRIES, this stigma does not exist. It is a purely US phenomenon. Scientific advancement takes along time (frequently), and our culture - especially our BUSINESS culture - demands the "pill I can swallow now in order to make everything better." No one wants to wait or pay for the best result. And they don't want to hear "No."
Sign in to Reply
SueV
5/8/2008 5:00 PM EDT
I don't know its ratings and you would not expect it, but "Medium" has a very favorable and believable main character who is an engineer and who is not remotely a geek. I guess the engineer offsets the premise of the show.
Sign in to Reply
phgphd
5/8/2008 11:57 PM EDT
Bill, you answered the why with your own comment that AP was hiring reporters to cover celebrities. Our society today is more interested in actresses, rich and famous. They take for granted the buildings, cell phones, and computers that make this the modern era. Engineers haven't changed, its society that has.
Sign in to Reply
PeterMoore
5/14/2008 10:17 AM EDT
I'd disagree with AnalogDude's comment. The issue in Bill's commentary is _respect_ and not _recognition_. Our loss of esteem in the public eye has serious consequences for our ability to participate in the course of social and political evolution. While we do seek knowledge and enlightenment, if our opinions are not respected then we loose the ability to be a conservative force in this very dynamic (unstable) world of ours.
Personally, I believe that the disproportionate engineering efforts put into generally destructive products - read bombs - has led the public to seek a less threatening and more trivial group of gurus such as sports stars and pop idols. Bad news since these 'respected' groups rarely hold humanistic values at heart due to the extremely competitive nature of their careers (read as race to riches).
I fear that the world that my children are growing up in is generally more frustrating, less personal, and leading to a general breakdown of values important to human life - and I feel impotent in not being able to control the future that they will inherit !
Having said that I am at a loss to identify ways in which the 'nerds' and 'geeks' that inhabit the science and engineering world can regain their public respect. Maybe stop building bombs ?
Sign in to Reply
eric-odessit
5/14/2008 1:07 PM EDT
Peter,
As long as there are bad guys with bombs in the world, you have to build bombs for the good guys.
Having said that, there is much bigger amount of engineering time spent on life improvement and life saving. Just have a look around any hospital.
There is no drama in the engineering work, so it is much harder to make a TV show about engineers than about lawyers or doctors.
Eric.
Sign in to Reply