When nonengineers think about engineering, it’s usually because something has gone wrong. In the follow-up investigations, it comes out that some of the engineers involved knew something was wrong. But too few spoke up or pushed back — and those who did were ignored.
Most engineering schools stress subjects like differential calculus and physics, and their graduates tend to end up narrowly focused and likely to fit the stereotype of a socially awkward clock-puncher ... too much note-taking in the classroom and not enough hands-on ...
Richard Miller says, "I think those days are over."
Constance Bowe, an emeritus professor at UC Davis, says: “We need to be teaching them how to learn, as opposed to teaching them a whole lot of facts.” She sees Olin as trying “to create more of a stem cell” — the kind of cell that can become any other kind of cell.
In some companies, the freethinking products of Olin might have trouble fitting in. “Does industry want people like that? I think that’s a very good question, but I think this goes beyond what industry wants,” he said. “This is the right thing to do — this is what industry needs. If the country had more people like this, we’d be in a much better situation.”
This is promising.
