|
 A
Word of
Caution
Whenever anyone discusses the concept of preparing
young people for careers in the global workplace, the
standard reaction is an enthusiastic nodding of the
head. Yes, technology and business are global; yes,
of course engineers will be working abroad; yes,
America must prepare internationally to remain
competitive. But, in spite of almost universal
endorsement of this very common sense concept,
relatively little is being done in American higher
education to prepare young engineers for a
multicultural, multilingual world. It seems that
universities are slow to change, and that common
sense sometimes has little to do with curricular
modification or new directions for the curriculum.
Much of the conservatism at colleges and universities
rests in deeply seated reward systems, which run
counter to innovative, interdisciplinary curricular
change. As long as faculty continue to be promoted
and rewarded first and foremost for research and
teaching in highly specialized and esoteric areas,
there will be little incentive to seek partnerships
with faculty from other disciplines, which are the
bread and butter of concepts such as international
engineering.
At most higher education institutions today, younger
faculty, who are often the ones to recognize the need
for change, are commonly discouraged from extensive
collaboration across the disciplines. Engineers
working closely with language faculty, and vice
versa, are likely to have less time for their area of
specialization, which will ultimately define their
success or failure as bright young scholars. Creative
cross-disciplinary work, therefore, could
significantly endanger one's ability to remain in the
profession.
Until this structural problem is addressed, until
such time when faculty will be systematically
encouraged to break out of the bonds of their own
disciplines to create new alliances for the timely
and pertinent education of their students, concepts
such as international engineering are at risk - and
likely to remain at the fringe of higher education.
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