From: millerj@lambda.ecn.purdue.edu (Snide Pucker)
Newsgroups: soc.college.grad
Subject: Re: Any Humanities Grads out there?
Date: 14 Apr 92 05:58:07 GMT
Organization: Purdue Univ. School of Nuclear Engineering

In article <1992Apr13.213346.4511@ra.msstate.edu> wkl1@Ra.MsState.Edu (Wing-Keong Loke                                               the consummate chronic prevaricator) writes:
#>In article <1992Apr13.171003.18664@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> callahan@biffvm.cs.jhu.edu (Paul Callahan) writes:
#>>
#>>Maybe not boast, but I've heard plenty of engineering students claim that
#>>literature or the arts are unimportant.  

   I assert that this comes from illiterate engineers who haven't quite
   lost the collegiate egocentrism common to many engineers.  Science is
   not everything, nor is significant material progress possible without
   science.  I find little wonder that the best engineers and scientists
   in my opinion also happen to have a profound love of the arts and 
   literature.  Flame me with counterexamples, but at least be coherent 
   or you will look like an idiot and prove my point.  Nothing strikes me
   as more humorous than a poster alleging that engineering is orders of
   magnitude more important than the arts and displaying the grammar and
   spelling of a twleve-year old.


#>>Also, there's certainly a prejudice
#>>that liberal arts majors are somehow intrinsically easier than technical majors.

   I believe that this is due to the strong push towards the sciences and
   engineering.  Those capable of handling the mechanics tend to migrate
   to the sci-tech fields.  As to whether or not liberal arts/humanities
   majors are inherently easier than tech majors, this seriously depends on
   the capabilities of the person in question.  Ever hear of left- or right-
   brain dominancy?  If so, why are we even debating this kind of topic?
   Said prejudice stems from engineering students taking trivial humanities
   classes and pointing at Lib.Arts majors who can't balance their checkbooks.
   Such engineers rather piss me off as they also tend to be loudmouths.


#>	Which may be true in your case, but my friends sort of tell me
#>all the time how difficult the humanities are compared to the sciences.

   I have a friend in English, French, and Math (Honors all around).  She
   swears that Liberal Arts are trivial and filled predominantly with morons 
   (her words, not mine).  She believes that there are very intelligent 
   people in the Lib.Arts, but in her opinion, most of them are in engineering.
   
   She also believes that sci-tech majors seem more likely to be successful
   in switching to Lib.Arts, but that Lib.Arts majors would not make the 
   opposite transition as easily.  This may contribute to the "non-tech is 
   easier than tech" garbage that filters its way into discussions every so 
   often.  Before you fire up that "F" key, she wants to be an English grad.

Regards,
--
   Jerry W. Miller                   #   "Opinions?  Of course they
   millerj@gn.ecn.purdue.edu         #    are mine, do YOU want them?"
   Purdue University School of Nuclear Engineering
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