One day, as I was interacting with a lecturer of an Engineering College, the lecturer was complaining about the bias and step-motherly treatment meted out to the faculties of the Engineering courses who had a science background, not only by the management, but also by the governing bodies. The lecturer was critical about a particular policy, which states that a faculty with M.Sc/MCA degree, and who goes on to obtain M.E/M.Tech degree is eligible only for handling B.E/B.Tech and not M.E/M.Tech classes; while a lecturer with the B.E/B.Tech background and with M.E/M.Tech can handle B.E/B.Tech as well as M.E/M.Tech classes. The reason given by the management was that the M.Sc/MCA faculty typically would be having a Science degree (B.Sc) as their base, and therefore cannot teach M.E/M.Tech, even after they complete their own M.E/M.Tech degrees!
I was able to understand the furious sentiments of the lecturer, as to obtain M.Sc or MCA degree, one has to study for five or six years, while for B.E/B.Tech degree, one has to spend only four years; and then after M.Sc/MCA, one has to spend another 2 years for their M.E/M.Tech. I then tried to pacify that lecturer, by stating to him, that beyond a certain point, degrees do not matter, and only the work and capabilities of the individual matter. That said, I have my own strong views on this subject. But before expressing my views, let me confess that I too have done my Master degree in Science and not in Engineering. Now to the views ...
This reflects the pathetic conditioning of the Indian mindset that Engineering is superior, while Science, Polytechnic, and Arts are all inferior courses, and down the ladder. I had read somewhere that this mindset was deliberately forced or thrusted upon us, because of certain reasons - that India needed more Engineers than Scientists, and India needed to apply the technologies on the field, developed by the scientists or researchers of the western countries. I don't know how far this is true; but India surely lags behind in Science and Scientific research, in many fields, though the importance is being felt now.
In the west, there is no distinction between Science and Engineering, and in fact the degrees are awarded as Science degrees and not as Engineering degrees. In India, despite the numerous number of Engineering institutions coming up in the recent years, the craze on Engineering and Medicine, does not seem to slow down. The irony in India is that while many people look down a person pursuing a science subject, they look at scientists with great respect!.
According to me, Engineering is more towards implementing technologies - some times at the Design level and some times at the field-level, while Science is aimed at developing and validating those technologies at the architectural level, and the core aim of polytechnical education is to have people carry out the implementations at the field level according to the given specifications.
My intention of this post, is neither to say that Science is superior to others, nor to say that Engineering is not required for us, but to say that science should be given paramount importance and should not be considered as inferior to Engineering.
