A recent letter published in your paper (T.N.M., 28/91) took some cheap shots at the profession of engineering. The letter “Engineers deserve a good swift boot,’ ” written by A. Chamot, not only blamed professional engineers for all the planet’s environmental problems, but many of the social problems. Chamot implies that engineering should be similar to tailoring. Anyone who can thread a needle would be qualified to design bridges, mines and offshore drilling platforms. That is absurd. Tragedies like the Ocean Ranger only reinforce the necessity of having highly trained people who personally take legal responsibility for loss of life and property.
The most amusing suggestion is that “engineering schools are . . . populated by boorish, beer-swilling louts.” At the University of British Columbia, engineers have more participation in sports than any other faculty.
Recent media reports of drug and alcohol abuse by airline pilots and doctors while on the job are far more serious than an undergraduate engineer who gets drunk after a tough final examination. Alex Doll University of British Columbia
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