As a student just starting his third week of engineering at Smartypants U. I have to report that i'm not having similar issues. While I do have one or two TA's are aren't competent at what they're doing they've been honestly trying their best. As for the actual professors I have two department heads teaching respectivly the intro physics and chem courses. Those professors are great. That being said I know this isn't the case everywhere. Money certaintly helps get better professors, fair or not that is the current situation. (financial aid however is also at very high levels from what I can tell)

Now the person I think who has hit upon this topic best is Dean Kamen the creator of the controversial segway. Whether or not your support his commercial endevours he's started one of the best programs to ever touch students. FIRST robotics (http://www.usfirst.org/) is a program that introduces to high school students (and through the lego league program middle schoolers) to what it is like to be an engineer. In his openning address to the competition's participants last year, he talked about how kids in the United States just want to hang out and in essence be lazy. After taking a tour through India however he saw droves of kids trying their hardest to learn everything they could, desperate for jobs that americans have begun to it seems believe are a birth right. Its an issue that his program that while becoming international he is hoping will help with these issues in the United States.

After being on a team for four years I learned almost everything that is involved in an engineering project. Given a strict deadline of six weeks to produce and ship a competition ready(heheh...) robot is just like reality, stressful, long nights(after school till 8 or later) and full of rewards. I've learned more than how to use machine shop tools, design parts in professional cad software, troubleshoot or write code for a robot. The program forces teams to fundraise and seek funding just like any real company. I've had to hold fundraisers, contact sponsors, cultivate relationships with companies and hunt down wealthy alumni for funds. The main goal of the program is to as the acro-name states, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, to inspire and foster a love for science and engineering. So my team also transformed itself into a PR machine(a vital part of companies in todays world) producing everything from corporate giveaways to hosting robotics expos in places as big as the world financial center in downtown manhattan.

Now I realize I sound like some brainwashed zealot, but ask any person who has participated and you will get a similarly positive response. After four years of participating I managed to wrangle a summer internship at an engineering firm actually doing engineering. Also now here at collge, while many students here can easily rival my abilities in a classroom, when it comes to what matters, making something and getting it out there in the public I'll have a huge upperhand. I know my dad, an engineer at a small company now looks for FIRST robotics experience on the resumes of new workers.

The educational instutions of today still offer education in the same way that they always have. FIRST offers people a chance to understand what engineering actually is about, creating things! The number of people that my team converted to engineering was sizable. The program is now relativly large at close to 1500 teams and I'm sure that within ten years the effects of it will be felt throughout the engineering world. Former FIRST robotics members will spread throughout the industry filling it innovation and a new life that is sorely needed.

~Ian
Proud Member of Team 694!