Learning these may enhance the ability of a young engineer to function in the real world, but only if he or she first studied the basics related to his or her engineering discipline. There has been a lot of discussion lately about raising the bar to qualify for registration as a professional engineer. And there is a growing consensus that all P.E. candidates should have a minimum of a master's degree in engineering. I think we are going in the right direction. But what about the minimum qualifications of candidates receiving their bachelor's in civil.
Any educational process is based on a pyramidal form of instruction.
In the early stages of learning, a wide variety of subjects are taught. By the time someone studies to get a doctorate, he or she chooses a narrowly focused topic. We would be foolish if we tried to teach a child only those subjects that might relate to his or her future doctoral thesis. If any curriculum is highly skewed toward subjects that are supposed to complement a person's knowledge in a basic field of expertise, then the person may not have adequate strength and confidence in the field he or she is supposed to practice. In the undergraduate civil engineering curriculum, we must include subjects such as engineering mechanics, strength of materials, structural analysis, fluid mechanics, engineering drawing, geotechnical engineering, concrete design, steel design, surveying, building design, highway design, railroads, sanitary and wastewater facilities design, airport design, engineering economics and so on.