The Green caldron - University Library

March, 1958
THE
Humanity versus the Slide Rule
Rae Lesser
Rhetoric loi, Final Theme
BOY WALKS ALONE; THE WIND, SWEEPING ACROSS
the Broadwalk, tousles his hair. At first glance there is nothing in his
typically-collegiate appearance to distinguish him from the thousands of
his peers who have come to the University of Illinois in search of knowledge
and understanding. But something heavy, encased in dark leather, swings from
his hip. He is identified as a member of a breed apart.
The engineering student adjusts the slide-rule clipped to his belt, and
quickens his pace. He has no classes in any of the imposing buildings that line
the Broadwalk; his day is spent in the various specialized training centers
located north of Green Street. He is a representative of a fast-growing seg-
ment of American youth destined to emerge from college without an education.
After amassing approximately 120 credit hours, the youth will be given a
degree and thereafter will be classified as a graduate of an institution of higher
learning.
But can technical training be considered learning? Does passing 120 col-
lege credit hours constitute an education ? According to the current catalogue
of the University of Illinois, published in pre-Sputnik days, only 20 of those
120 hours required for graduation in the College of Engineers are devoted
to "liberal electives." Within those 20 hours, the student must take the
equivalent of 6 hours of freshman rhetoric, leaving approximately 11.67%
of his college career to the pursuit of the cultural values that might tend to en-
rich his knowledge and broaden his horizons as a human being and an individ-
ual. Is it any wonder that many of the graduates of the science courses com-
plain that the general effect of such specialized training is a sensation of having
one's mind narrowed and restricted to a sphere not greatly exceeding the
dimensions of the ever-present slide rule?
Recently a lustrous metallic sphere hurtling through space in an orbit far
above Earth has created an intense feeling among the population of the United
States of America that we are lagging behind in the mass production of scien-
tific personnel. The apparent result of this fear of falling behind in a race
against science and total annihilation is a "step-up" in the process that now
turns out "89.33% pure" technical talent. If further concentration on technical
studies, coupled with a vastly increased number of engineering students, will
result from the current emphasis on science (as the only hope and future of
our troubled globe), the dilemma facing the nation is real indeed. At the
moment, the situation is such that we are "short-changing" merely a small