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While the individuals responsible for the social phenomenon
you describe certainly had great impacts upon society, most
of them were not exactly highly valued or respected during
their lifetimes (and in the case of some of them, it is arguable
that they shouldn't have been afterwards as well). And most
of them made their impacts rebelling against, rather than
applying what they studied during their education years.
As far as salary is concerned, I recall during my college
years an analysis that revealed that bachelor degrees in
engineering returned the highest income per year spent in
schooling of any field of study, and I've not seen anything
since to contradict that. It isn't so much that the degrees
are valued more than degrees in humanities as it is what
the people holding them are doing. I can think of no other
reason why a wet-behind-the-ears engineering graduate
rates a much larger salary than a new teacher, who begins
making an impact on students the moment he or she sets
foot in a classroom.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leonard C. Porrello" <Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com>
>I think his view on this issue is myopic.
>While the impact of science and engineering on the world is enormous,
>both wonderful and monstrous, the impact of the ideas developed and
>propagated by "artsy-scholarship" (i.e., humanities) is far more
>profound. Warrant? Two words: Communist Manifesto. If that isn't enough,
>how about Christianity, Islam, Atheism, Materialism, German Idealism,
>Darwinism, Nazism, Socialism, Laissez-faire, and Capitalism? And we
>mustn't forget, "Those who forget history are destined to repeat it".
>On a social level, before science and engineering can truly help us to
>live better lives, we need humanities to tell us what "better" is. On a
>personal level, "the unexamined life is not worth living"; science and
>engineering have nothing to say to the three most profound questions in
>the heart of every person: "Who am I?", "Why am I here?", and "Where am
>I going?"
>If salary is any indication of respect, I think it is safe to say that
>the business world does not value or respect those educated in sciences
>and engineering more so than it does those educated in the humanities.
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