This editorial article (Engineering vs. Liberal Arts: Who’s Right—Bill or Steve?) has been circulating the web, and is reprinted (copied?) on nearly 100 other websites and blogs. From some quotes you can see why this has been such a barn burner in the world of blog posts…
It’s commonly believed that engineers dominate Silicon Valley and that there is a correlation between the capacity for innovation and an education in mathematics and the sciences. Both assumptions are false.
My research team at Duke and Harvard surveyed 652 U.S.-born chief executive officers and heads of product engineering at 502 technology companies. We found that they tended to be highly educated: 92 percent held bachelor’s degrees, and 47 percent held higher degrees. But only 37 percent held degrees in engineering or computer technology, and just two percent held them in mathematics. The rest have degrees in fields as diverse as business, accounting, finance, health care, and arts and the humanities.
Gaining a degree made a big difference in the sales and employment of the company that a founder started. But the field that the degree was in and the school that it was obtained from were not a significant factor.
In essence this is what is called in the biz ‘flame bait’. By the term ‘biz’, I of course, mean both the blogging business as well as the world of editorial page writing.
First off, this is a rather strange and false argument. The original op/ed piece seems to willfully conflate the roles of entrepreneurs and CEO’s with those who merely possess some 4 year degree… Secondly, I find it a bit of a stretch to say that a four year degree determines some of the basic attributes a new employee would have (with regard to such ineffable abilities like: creativity, thinking outside of the box, and other buzz word filled and over used terms).
In my life in the private sector, I have had the privilege of working with some amazingly creative engineers and mathematicians…I have also had the sad experience with working with some guys who wouldn’t make it on the ‘junior varsity’. The same goes for the liberal arts majors I have dealt with in life.
This is where this ‘Yankees versus Rebs’ dichotomy is worth only water cooler debates at work the next day… I imagine a similar comparison of state universities versus liberal arts colleges would be the next topic is this artificial ‘Hatfield and McCoy’ trope. I can see a land way in Asia in the distance.
I have had plenty of friends (electrical engineers) who have decried the fact that they never had a chance to take any elective courses as an undergraduate in college. Similarly, I think that there is much for some liberal arts majors to learn by taking a couple math and physics courses.
The fact is that we live in a world where we all need to know more than we left school with.
Another perspective to throw into this topic would be to suggest that the entrepreneurial spirit and marketing skills a Steve Jobs or a Michael Eisner may have are only valuable in that they are leveraging and presenting technology which pothers have created.
There is another implied notion in the original op/ed piece, that (apparently) all liberal arts majors are interchangeable. You see, it is just as easy to pit English and Philosophy majors at each other’s throats…and as unjustified.
Finally…there is an elephant in this room; we live in a world where technology is about as close to ruling as it has …ever. As I have already stated, all of us need to learn more…
Engineering versus liberal arts: Who is right?
http://interact.forumotion.com/t6-engineering-versus-liberal-arts-who-is-right
“Hate on me, hater” – Liberal Arts vs. Engineering Majors
http://theyounganddisenchanted.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/%E2%80%9Chate-on-me-hater%E2%80%9D-liberal-arts-vs-engineering-majors
Michael Eisner on engineering vs. liberal arts
http://www.danielcunningham.org/2010/12/michael-eisner-on-engineering-vs-liberal-arts
Liberal arts schools embrace engineering
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-03-2086459646_x.htm
Liberal Arts Major vs. Science Major
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/203448/liberal_arts_major_vs_science_major.html?cat=4
Want Innovative Thinking? Hire from the Humanities
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/03/want_innovative_thinking_hire.html
