one very far; and therefore if the student
finds he has made a mistake, it is not difficult to change.

2. "The undergraduate seldom knows the field of his future employment,
and hence does not have the data necessary for an intelligent
decision." The young man will never have all of the data for such a
decision until he has actually worked in that field for a time, and
there is no reason why he should not make a decision and try some
particular line of preparation.

3. Some opponents of specialization claim that the more general the
engineering training, the easier to obtain employment after
graduation; but this is not in harmony with the facts. The opposite is
more nearly true. For example, who ever heard of a practicing engineer
preferring a liberal arts student to a civil engineering student as a
rodman?

4. Specialized courses require that the college should have larger
equipment and a more versatile staff. The larger institutions can
prepare for specialized sections nearly as easily and cheaply as for
duplicate sections; and institutions having only a few students or
meager financial support should not offer highly specialized courses.

5. The opponents of specialization claim that to be a successful
specialist one should have a broad training, and that therefore the
broader the curriculum the better. It is true that to be a successful
specialist requires a considerable breadth of knowledge, but that does
not prove that the student should be required to get all of his
general knowledge before he gives attention to matters peculiar to
his specialty. No engineer can be reasonably successful in any field
with only the knowledge obtained in college, whether that be general
or special.

6. It is claimed that specialization should be postponed to a fifth
year. It seems to have been settled by experience that four years is
about the right length of the college course for the average
engineering student, and that in that time he should test his fitness
and liking for his future work by studying some of the subjects
relating to his proposed specialized field.

7. The chief reason in favor of specialization is that the field of
knowledge is so vast that it is absolutely necessary for every college
student--engineering or otherwise--to specialize; and in engineering
this specialization is vitally important, since fundamental principles
can be taught most effectively in connection with their application to
specialized