Engineering Cultures Around the World Compared to American Engineering
...gh the apprenticeship process. Understanding that the British engineer comes from a school where theoretical engineering knowledge is taught upon a firm foundation of practical engineering knowledge you begin to see why the three European engineers do not belong under the same umbrella. The German engineer is different, yet again, from the other two engineers; due, mostly, to Germany’s unique history. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the area we today call Germany was made up of many scattered groups. During those centuries different wars and leaders slowly brought those groups together. There were, of course, key points in history that I do not have the time or knowledge to give proper credit too, but in general Germany struggled for some time to become one united nation state. This struggle to become united brought about a very big question in the German society; what does it mean to be ‘German’? In the 18th and 19th centuries the dominate image challenging Germans was “to be a German you must strive to emancipate the human spirit”. In that era emancipating one’s spirit was studying and practicing things like philosophy, art, music, science, and humanities. Those beliefs brought about the idea of ‘Bildung’. Bildung is the improvement of self, achieved through study of classical knowledge and sciences. In the 19th century universities were created as a place where Germans could learn the different ways to emancipate the spirit and what it means to be German . Unfortunately for engineers they were not regarded very highly until the 20th century. The Nazi regime brought about the beginning of the German engineer that we know today. Also, the rise of National Socialism brought about the belief that technology was the way to emancipate the human spirit. Machines were viewed as the “mirror image of the living”, which then made engineers very important. Since emancipation of the human spirit was so important in German culture the fachhochschulens (fachs) stressed perfection. Hands-on, practical knowledge was and still is the basis of a curriculum which is driven mainly by the needs of industry. After some French influence the Germans began to incorporate more theoretical knowledge into their Technical Universities which, in turn, produced engineers with higher status than the fachs. Because of the Germany’s rich history and culture German engineers are challenged by the dominate image that what they engineer is driven by industrial needs and, more importantly, a product of a German engineer should radiate that engineer’s soul and spirit; and thus show the German desire for precision, even to the most minute detail. Due to the Bologna Declaration, integration of each separate engineering degree into one ‘European’ degree, some friction between European engineers exists. In order to fully understand the differences in the three European engineers it is necessary to understand the possible friction between them. In France, students and graduates of L’x dislike the idea of integration because they predominately feel that they are the best and no one else should actually be viewed as their equals. Also in France, students at the Ecole Central de Arts et Manufactures understand the quality and high rank of L’x so they are usually excited about the opportunity for more jobs that integrating will provide. In England, engineers from red bricks do not really care because their requirements to become engineers are basically the same as those that the Bologna Declaration would require. Engineers of the apprenticeship program are extremely against integration because their curriculum is nowhere near what the declaration requires. This means they would be left out and unable to become engineers. In Germany students of the fachs like the declaration because other recent developments have allowed them to get masters degrees, meaning the declaration would open more doors into industry. Those students at the technical universities in Germany dislike integration because they are afraid that, with it, the fach graduates will look superior in the eyes of industry and finding a job will be that much harder . There are many reactions that could come about because of numerous combinations of feelings and possible friction. It is easy to see that national or educational pride could cause some problems. The theoretically inclined French engineer and the practically inclined British and German engineers may have problems seeing eye to eye. I hope that my work here has painted a worthy picture and brought proper perspectives to the eyes of my American companions. 2.) The education of the engineer from the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures (A&M) is based upon a solid foundation, like all French engineering education, of theoretical knowledge. Even though A&M curriculum is very similar to L’x it is not as favored in most French eyes, thus graduating from the A&M the engineer understands that he or she is second best in France. This looks to be very beneficial to your company because the engineer is probably excited and relieved to be working away from France. The engineer from the Fachhoschulen Munich comes from an extremely hands-on form of engineering. A large chunk of the Fach curriculum includes industrial science experience. Fach curriculum includes only 1% of research. They believe in teaching the students directly and not forcing them to try and learn from reading a book. Coming from an education where the teachers spent 18 hours every week teaching in the classroom the Fach engineer will excel in an environment where engineers are learning from each other and depending upon each other to get things done. The engineer from the Technical University-Berlin (BTU) is very different from the Fach engineer even though their educations were developed in the same German culture. The biggest difference in curriculum is the amount of research implemented. At BTU about 14% of the curriculum is geared toward research. Also, the teacher versus student relationship is not at all the same. Most teachers do not help outside of class. In order for the students to get help outside of class they have to find other students to work with or do all the research themselves . For the most part this engineer will be better prepared than the others for working alone and researching to find answers. The engineer from the University of Tokyo comes from a very balanced education. At the University of Tokyo those in charge of academics consider the training of minds and culture equally important as professional education . In the Japanese culture engineers are challenged by the dominate image that the job they start after graduation is the job they will have until they retire. Because of the Japanese culture the engineer from Tokyo will be very family and team oriented. The Tokyo University engineer is here to stay and will give maximum effort to the company. The engineer from the University of Manchester also comes from a now balanced education, but British engineering has much deeper roots in practical knowledge. It wasn’t until about 50 years ago that technical knowledge began to rapidly develop and be implemented into Britain’s craft oriented origin of engineering . Classically, the British practice in education has been to concentrate on specializing, but in the rea...