Costly But Do Little
Engineering's Bad Gut Courses

By MEL LEVY

The average college student takes 128 credits for a bachelor's degree, finishing in four years at age 22. Engineering students take 144 credits for their bachelor's degree, with heavier semester loads to finish in the same four years. Their curriculum mandates compressed math and science courses (i.e. what a math major takes in 1-1/2 years, they must take in one year).

After graduation, a teacher's college student can be state-certified, thus ending his or her state mandatory education. The law graduate goes on to law school for three more years, graduates, passes the Bar, and is then admitted to practice. Their state-mandated requirements are now ended. The Bar Association does have minimal Continuing Education courses (by video) available at nominal fees.

Medical students go on to med school (for four years). Upon graduation, they take medical boards and can practice medicine. As for Continuing Education, they attend conferences, etc. and the cost is passed on to the patient.

Long Road for Engineers

The engineering graduate can take Part 1 of her licensing requirement (an eight-hour exam) but will (upon passing) only be called an "Engineer in Training." After four years of acceptable experience, the EIT can apply to take Part 2 of the licensing requirement. If her experience is accepted, she will then be admitted to another eight-hour exam. This means (if she passes the exam) it will take the engineer a minimum of four years and six months before she gets the Professional Engineer's License. The net result is that the Engineer will go through the longest time period for certification but make the lowest salary.

Now New York State has placed an additional burden on the Professional Engineer. This individual must now take state-mandated Continuing Education (CE) courses. The Engineer will have to complete 36 credit hours over a three-year period every time he registers to practice. CE will (according to the state law) update and improve the professional development of the Engineer, thereby protecting the public.

A review of the courses offered and the course-givers shows that the application of the law is a farce. When I went to college (I have a bachelor's and a master's degree and a Professional Engineer's License) a three-credit course required a minimum of three hours per week per semester (or 48 hours) plus a multi-hour final exam and of course plenty of homework. CE (according to the blurbs I have seen) requires one session of an hour per credit. No exam, no homework, yet you have been updated. So claim the course-givers, "a directly-approved source," by New York State.

Reasons for Doubt

An in-depth look into the courses offered (as to content) and the course-givers (as to their qualifications) raises more questions. I note one course called "Bridging America." This 5-1/2-hour course (including breaks) discusses five major bridge projects (1. Pittsburgh: City of Bridges, 2. The Mackinac Bridge, 3. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, 4. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel and 5. The Al Zampa Memorial Bridge).

Gee whiz, in 5-1/2 hours you have been updated by this study of five major bridges and a tunnel! In my master's degree thesis (eight credits) I derived five different formulas needed for tunnel design and analysis. Then I had to defend my thesis in front of a three-professor panel. According to the state, this 5-1/2-hour course would have been more than an adequate substitute. Look at all the time I could have saved.

By the way, the course-giver calls himself a construction professional lecturer and author.

Another course is called Seismic Code Provisions, which is an overview of seismic code provisions which includes 1. Fundamentals of seismic design, 2. Seismic design categories and forces, 3. Structural irregularities, material details and component bracing, 4. Existing buildings and residential construction and 5. Submission requirements. All this in four hours for four credits. You will now be updated by spending 48 minutes per subject, assuming no questions. This does not equate with the analogous Department of Defense course I took which required sixteen three-hour sessions, submitted homework and a three-hour final exam. Look at all the time I wasted. Oh, the course-giver is an R.A. with 11 years' experience in architecture, project management and code training. The resume did not mention seismic engineering.

Bad for Engineers

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the New York State Legislature passed a CE law in an area in which it was not expert. This will now allow those who pushed for the law to make money by sponsoring and giving CE courses at ever-increasing expense to the Professional Engineer (both private and government) without increasing Public Safety.

The net result will be fewer Licensed Professional Engineers meeting the higher standard imposed by their license, which tells you "not to practice outside of your expertise."

Even government-employed Engineers (such as those represented by Local 375 of District Council 37), will be at risk, as the exemption to the law is not applicable to Engineers hired or becoming P.E.'s after Jan. 1, 2004. Government would therefore have to pay for their courses in both dollars and time, reducing governmental hiring and engineering oversight that protects the public. I also do not think Engineering Managers are exempt.

This CE law is in conflict with the premise of the earned license because it makes you "updated" and therefore eligible to practice in those areas in which you have been updated.

I will not take junk courses and say I have been updated. I have so informed the State Board of Engineering and the New York State Attorney General's Office.

This is a dangerous law that should be repealed. I am at odds with the state in order to protect it.

Mr. Levy, a retired veteran of 35 years in the transit system who monitored the structural integrity of the subway system's below-river tunnels, is the former chairman of the Civil Service Technical Guild's New York City Transit chapter.