Blog ยป To Be Comprehensible is Everything to An Engineer
Posted on 05 Feb 2013 04:01
Probably the most stark realization I've made upon entrance to an engineering school is the lack of English, or any recognizable form of communication, for that matter. The Steinmann Hall on the City College campus serves as the Grove School of Engineering headquarters and I've got this to say about it: it wasn't built by good engineers. In fact the building and everything within its vicinity is confusing as hell. Put aside the mislabeled room directions and the hallway entrances that look like janitor's closets, virtually everybody in the building is just plain bad at speaking English and communicating in a common language. While I mean not to discredit their genius, and undoubtedly, hard work, as a former English as a Second Language student I can't help but remember how crippling lacking the language commonly used in an environment is. Unfortunately, in America, as soon we can detect a poor adherence to grammatical convention in either speech or writing, we automatically write those speakers and writers off as disabled. This is something I witness daily as I watch my mother, a brilliant woman, struggle everywhere to express herself in a language that simply isn't one she knows well.
With all of that in consideration, I can only say that I know damn well how important proper communication is in this world, especially for engineers. I major in mechanical engineering. I want to be among the ladies and gentlemen who bring about significant changes in the way that our society uses technology in order to achieve a higher standard of living and a responsible use of our resources. While I was reading the first chapter of our required textbook, Technical Writing for CCNY, I kept reinforcing in my mind how applicable it is to the observations I've made. We often hear from our engineering professors how unimportant things like writing and speech are for engineers. We are told that as long as we know the math, science, and can convince our employers that we are geniuses, then we're set. However, I feel that I'm not particularly inclined to convince anybody that I'm a genius. I wold rather be able to communicate to my employer that I am both capable and competent and as I've mentioned, if I can't write or speak properly, it becomes quite hard to convince them of either. As I recall the days when I spoke a language foreign to my peers, I am saddened by how difficult it was for me to express my thoughts to them in the classroom. Often becoming unmotivated because of the communication issue, I sat in dunce silence and felt like the stupidest person in the world.
As an engineer I expect to have to do a lot of technical writing. I expect to write many analytical reports, as I intend to work in the nanotechnology field, which is highly experimental. I expect to do a lot of specification reports, explaining to manufacturers how to build machines and tools that I will have designed. I can only imagine how terribly butchered my end product would be if I didn't give clear, comprehendible instructions of how to build it. In fact, I image a lot of money gets wasted this way, which, as I think of it now, is probably a high opportunity cost for employers who wind up spending their money on writing and speaking tutors instead of on messed up manufactured products.
As I recall the days when I spoke a language foreign to my peers, I am saddened by how difficult it was for me to express my thoughts to them in the classroom. Often becoming unmotivated because of the communication issue, I sat in dunce silence and felt like the stupidest person in the world. Today, I can put my thoughts into coherent words so as to express them to my peers and I intend to adopt the practice of technical writing to my best ability so that I can make both myself, the writer, and the reader feel confident as we go through the analyses, the specification reports, and the instructions.
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Honestly, I laughed when I read your blog. You are a brave lady that you spoke out the truth which Grove School is a real hell for engineers. I suffered from the same experience like you did. Every time I went there, and it just made me feel oppressive. Such a crowded and narrow building. At the same time, the experience that you had about the language obstacle happened to me. English as my second language, brought me so much pain to pronounce it in a right way. I also feel stupid when I am afraid of speaking out my voice. I have an extraversion personality. I love kick-boxing and basketball. The reason I chose engineer may not like you. I chose it because I thought engineering was a major that didn't depend much on English. Obviously, I was wrong. The difference between you and me is that the stupid thing is still happening to me. I spend much time on English now because I should't shrink my responsibility to study a language.
Your experience brings you strength and leads you to move forward. It makes you respectable and shapes you as a optimistic person.