HUMAN ENGINEERS

To the average man an engineer is too often a gentleman with a mathematical mind who sees scarcely more than a blue print before him. Popular conception imagines him to be an extraordinary fund of scientific knowledge gained by several years' work in an engineering school. The Harvard Engineering School plans to graduate more than mere scientific men; it proposes to develop engineers who shall be able to meet the call for industrial leadership, who shall understand men as well as machines. The co-operative plan, as explained by Mr. Lytle in today's CRIMSON provides for "a first hand understanding of human relations under conditions of production." It shows not only recognition of a problem vital to both industry and engineering, but offers a solution. Every third year student is to spend alternate periods of two months in the class room and in a machine shop or electrical department where he will work beside the ordinary laborer. In this way the factulty of the school, the students, and industry may co-operate in producing fit engineers.

The days of personal contact between employer and wage-carner have long since passed and something must be substituted if the workingman is to feel a contentment and pride in earning his daily bread. Many attempts have been made; yet the problem remains, chiefly because those who understand both the attitude of labor and business administration are few, and hard to find. "It is significant to note," points out Mr. Lytle, "that these cooperative students are quite universally interested in the administrative side of engineering. They are not inclined to slight straight engineering interests but they see the fascination and the importance in human and economic leadership."

The Harvard Engineering School seems to have successfully undertaken the vital task of supplying to industry the expert who shall know by a happy combination of theoretical work and personal experience in a shop both the technical problems of administration and the all important human element. No longer can the A.B. think of his friend, the S.B., as a man merely wrapped up in numbers and blue prints; he is now a leader.