COOPERATIVE PLAN OF ENGINEERING SCHOOL FILLS STUDENTS' NEEDS

"The Harvard Engineering School is successfully conducting a cooperative plan of education," Charles W. Eytlc, Director of Industrial Cooperation at the Engineering School, said to a CRIMSON reporter recently. "The cooperation is three fold in that it unites many industries, third-year students and the Engineering Faculty in a partnership that aims to procure three present-day essentials for the embryo engineer. These essentials are: a practical knowledge of the methods of industrial organizations in every-day operation, a first-hand understanding of human relations under conditions of production, and an appreciation of the harmony between industrial practice and class-room theory that illuminates the student's whole training.

Are Regularly Paid Working Men

"These cooperative students are regularly paid workingmen for half their third year in the Engineering School. While one is off in some machine shop, electrical department, or plant akin to his professional line, another is spending two months of intensive class-room work. When these eight or nine weeks are finished, they shift positions, the man who had been in Cambridge taking up the industrial life where his alternate left off while the latter returns to college and engages in theoretical work. The change back and forth eliminates the need for the long vacation and consequently the men are only given three weeks off each year.

"The outside work is supervised by a coordinator who visits the various plants and talks with all parties concerned. Another influential factor in making the industrial experience count for all it can is a set of comprehensive questionnaires or syllabi which are compiled for the purpose of guiding a cooperative student in observing details at the shop and of helping him to learn all he possibly can during the short period of apprenticeship.

Bl-Weekly Reports Required

"In addition there are bl-weekly reports which the cooperative student writes while he is doing practical work. The purpose is to draw out the technical and related facts that he has learned from his industrial contact before too much time has elapsed.

Followed Up by Discussion

"These reports are followed up by short talks and discussions during the first period that a group of cooperative students returns to the school proper. This is for the purpose of bringing individual experiences into a "melting pot," where they may be modified in comparison with other viewpoints.

"Furthermore, it is the intention to conduct a cooperative course in more than merely the name. Therefore meddling is farthest from the intention of the School. If a student has reason to think that any question might be considered annoying to his superiors, he is always asked to discard such a question. Every man from the School is expected to be a 100 percent workman while on the job, and of course any connection with the College is not permitted to interfere with this purpose.

Work Suited to Student's Needs

"It should be understood that the industrial work is superior to the ordinary summer work in that it is selected to suit the student's needs, and is supervised so as to make the short time equivalent to much more than might be expected. Furthermore, the alternate exposure to theory and practice accelerates the process of learning much as the alternate exposure of iron to air and water accelerates the process of rust formation. Inasmuch as the former is in no way abbreviated and the latter is much extended, we are emphatic in declaring that this plan is more liberalizing than an unadulterated college programme.

"It is significant to note 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. There are many others who constantly aspire to this leadership, too, but who is so well fitted for practical achievement in industrial leadership as the engineer?