Co-ordination of mathematics and physics with electrical-engineering subjects

IN RECENT years all branches of engineering have experienced rapid growth and progress. Technological advancement has been accompanied by an increasing realization of the breadth and scope of the profession. College curricula have been altered and adjusted in attempts to meet changing conditions. We have been forced to realize that the solution of our educational problems is not to be found in an increased amount of work or in adding further courses to already overcrowded curricula, but rather in more complete co-ordination and unification within the programs themselves. Due to the manner in which the engineering curricula have been built up through the years, new subjects being added from time to time as was found necessary, we are in danger of thinking of a curriculum as being composed of separate blocks, i.e., so much mathematics, so much physics, chemistry, and so forth. Our problem is to break down the well-defined boundaries of these blocks so that they will be combined to form a unified and coherent whole. We might compare the curriculum to a painting for which the artist carefully chooses a number of colors which are not used separately in blocks, but are harmoniously blended and intermingled in a complete picture.