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ENGINEERING AS A VOCATION

men situated like himself Thom he occasionally meets. Sometimes an idea strikes him and he produces an hypothesis, dignifies it by the term of "theory" and starts on a wild goose chase, frequently finding men of means to advance money to push his wild ideas. The man who follows true theory is the practical man, for he follows what others before him proved to be true. The man who works by hypothesis will distort facts to attempt to prove himself right and is really the theoretical man in the sense that the average individual understands the meaning of theory. The "theoretical" man is not the educated man and the "practical" man is not the uneducated man.

Anything which will enable a man to think soundly and act with intelligence has a place in the curriculum of an engineering school. Mathematics is, therefore, entitled to first place when it is taught as a tool and not as an end.

In school a grade of 70 will carry a boy through and 90 gives him extremely creditable standing. In business a grade of 100, or perfect, is necessary to hold a position. Intelligence, plus a grade of 100, is absolutely necessary for advancement. The wellknown "Gentleman's grade of C," of the old-time classical course is an inferior grade in the engineering course. A careful study of the biographies of successful engineers, appearing frequently in technical papers, will show that a surprisingly large number won prizes and had excellent stand-