I suggest that those concerned about the small number of young people wanting careers in engineering should go into schools and ask what are the attitudes of the youngsters’ parents and grandparents towards modern engineering.
I would bet my life savings that they think the only worthwhile engineering is that of the past, that of the present is rubbish and that of the future will be truly diabolical. These opinions must be influencing the budding generation.
Until we as a nation grow up and embrace modernity instead of trying to fight it we will remain where we are — shackled to a foolish, rose-tinted nostalgia while every other country in the world manufactures for the future and prospers.
Andrea Preston
Staffs
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Dangers of nostalgia
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Maybe a different tact should be taken to engineering then? If you admit people are attached to their heritage and nostalgic about their past, let’s work with this rather than against it. It seems to me that it is not simple a question of advanced technology being better, but also one of craftsmanship. Examples of old engineering are not as advanced as what is available to us today but almost always exhibit greater craftsmanship, beauty and a sense of quality. If we started to emphasise the importance of the look and feel of our products and put craftsmanship on an equal footing with technology maybe we will create a modern day nostalgia for what we build?
To name one example: windmills. If you were given a choice, would you rather have a modern mass produced wind turbine in your town or a traditional stone built windmill that fits in with the character? I know what I would choose! Which raises the question: should we be more sympathetic to what people want when designing new things to sit with the old? I think we should, and I bet three million national trust members would agree to name one group.
I do not mean to say, “don’t embrace modern technology”, but only “let’s not make modern technology look so ugly!”