THE PRACTICAL WAY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 142, 16 June 1923, Page 13

THE PRACTICAL WAY

TRAINING ENGINEERS

UNIVERSITY OR TECHNICAL

CLASS?

AUSTRALIAN EXPERT'S VIEWS.

A discussion on the education of engineering cadets and apprentices will be held by the technological section of the Philosophical Society next Wednesday, and is expected to be useful in its results, as well as interesting. t)uring the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in Wellington last January the technical education of mechanical engineers was dealt with in an address by Mr. C. A. Sussmilch, E.G.S., president of the Royal Society of New South Wales. ,-Mr. Subsmilch, who was born in Sydney and educated at the famous Fort Street Public School, is a noted geologist, whose research work in physiolography and mining and metallurgical geology has inadp him one of the foremost engineering scientists of Australia. Always associated with technical education, and a closo student of American developments in that field (ho visited America, in 1911, and studied the system in vogue there at close quarters), ho is now principal of tha Newcastle Technical College, with jurisdiction over the associated technical classes of the Hunter River district. As he is also a council member of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers, and chairman of the Newcastle division of the Institute of Engineers of Australia, his opinions on the education and training of engineers carry much weight, and when ho read his paper before the engineering section of the Science Association his audience made it very clear that he was expressing views which the majority of the prominent engineers present found very acceptable.

He said in part: There are two methods whereby mechanical engineers may obtain Sieir necessary technical education—(l) Attendance at a degree course at a university; (2) apprenticeship at an engineering works, accompanied by attendance at a technical college.

In the first of these methods the sTudent attends a high school, usually for the ages fifteen, to nineteen, in order to matriculate; he then enters a university, and attends a. four years' course of instruction. Upon the completion of this course he is about twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, but he still has to obtain his practical workshop experience. Most universities now provide fitting and machinery workshops for students taking a mechanical engineering course, but the amount of time allotted to Buch practical work is necessarily limited. In any case, such workshops cannot reproduce trade workshop conditious, and the graduate who wishes to become a successful mechanical engineer must obtain practical experience under trade conditions. Many graduates fail in satisfactorily accomplishing this result for various reasons. They leave the university crammed with ' theoretical knowledge, and think that they have very little to learn, imd arc- only 100 anxious to impress those around them with their superior knowledge. Such a man tends to look down upon his companions, and raises a barrier of dislike and distrust between himself and tho workmen; neither foremen nor journeymen have any time for him, and, in fact, look, upon him as a nuisance and an interloper. The university graduatehas himself in most cases already passed the age of greatest adaptability for acquirinc pra"ti<-nl skill, and he rarely gets ito the inner life of the workshop. Under these conditions very many fail to acquire the necessary practical experience. Some drift into the drawing office, and become and remain ordinary draughtsmen; others drop out of the profession altogether. There will always, of course, be some specially-gifted graduates who will " make good " in spite of these difficulties, but they represent a small minority only. There'is too large a percentage of failures.

Lads who attend a secondary school until the age of sixteen, and then become apprenticed to a large engineering works for a period of five yoars, provide the second class. For the first three or four years they remain in the workshop, obtaining as wide an experience as possible, but transfer to the drawing office in their last year. Concurrently with their apprenticeship, such students should attend evening classes at a technical college, taking a course of instruction usually known as a diploma course, which would include mathematics, physics, elementary chemistry, applied mechanics, heat engines and other prime movers, mechanical drawing, machine design, etc". Thus practical and theoretical training would go on side by side. This method of producing mechanical engineers has the following advantages :—(a) The student obtains practical workshop training under commercial conditions at the age when he is best qualified to take advantage of it, and becomes thoroughly familiar with labour conditions, conditions of largescale production, etc. (b) The practical and theoretical training supplement one another, and ho consequently obtains tho best results from both; he also beller appreciates tho bearing of one upon the other. (c) Upon tho completion of his apprenticeship he is already qualified for a moderately responsible position; there is not that sudden break in his career that happens with the university graduate, (d) Students are earning soratthing from the time they begin their education and have not to face the high cost of a university education.

After completion of the above course the more ambitious can still take more advanced theoretical-training either in a technical college or in a university. The system has, of course, the disadvantage that students, after a hard day's work ii. the workshop, have to spend a further two to two hours and a half in work at the technical college in 'the evening, which, of course, is somewhat arduous, and.means some, sacrifice with regard to pleasure. Experience, however, shows that tho average student can do this without any harm to himself, and the night work really keeps him out of a quod deal of mischief, which otherwise he.' might get into. Many large works now allow apprentices, who show promise, time off during the day to attend technical classes, as they realise the advantages to themselves as well as to their apprentices.

Many mechanical engineers, of high standing, including many -who have graduated in universities, are of opinion that this second method is the best for producing capable mechanical engineers.