Engineering May Leave Students Apathetic About Social Issues

"...One possibility is just a general development of cynicism of young adults,"  Cech explained. "However, if engineering education is serious about producing students who express concern for public welfare, then the fact that engineering education does not appear to counteract the development of such cynicism is similarly problematic...So what can engineering educators do about all this? Cech says reformers could try tearing down three "ideological pillars" of engineering education: "depoliticization" that considers "non-technical" concerns such as public welfare to be irrelevant to "real" engineering; the cognitive separation of "technical" and "social" competencies that devalues the latter; and a "meritocratic ideology" that automatically assumes social systems are fair and equitable in giving everyone an equal shot at success." (IEEE Spectrum, 2013)