What are engineering students reading?

This past semester I got a chance to engage with engineering freshmen in an intro-get-to-know-you kind of course. As we all wore masks in class, talking wasn’t easy. At times we had to repeat ourselves, often loudly. I could not tell whether the students were smiling or frowning at my lame jokes. The students — as always — were sharp, ambitious and ready to take on the world.

There was just one problem: they had no interest in reading books. Most had not read a single book in the last year, and despite my nudging none showed interest in reading during the holidays or even the next semester.

I find this deeply disturbing and nothing short of a crisis. Some may argue that given the anxiety and worry due to the pandemic, reading a book may be too much to ask. There is some merit in this argument but not much. First, because when I spoke to other (non-engineering) students at my institution, they had been reading books, and planned on reading some in the near future. Second, an experiment I have done for the last several years in my engineering classes, where I give credit (equal to one full homework) if students read a book (in any language!) during the semester results in barely anyone availing that opportunity suggests that problem is deeper and has little to do with the pandemic.

Frustrated by what I saw, I decided to ask my students why they do not read books. The answers I got were both troubling and insightful. Most thought reading a book was only for pleasure, and there was little academic or intellectual value in it. This was reinforced by other engineering and science faculty who consider both book writing, and reading a hobby — not something that may contribute to intellectual development. There was also a strange sense of entitlement that engineering was all about doing things and book reading was something that engineers didn’t (or perhaps shouldn’t) do.

I reached out to some friends in Pakistan to ask what engineering students in Pakistan are reading. I got similar answers. Most do not read books, engineering and science students may go through their entire university education without ever reading a book not required for coursework.

My analysis here is not a thorough scientific survey, though I have seen the disdain for reading books year after year in engineering classes with hundreds of students. My observation has more to do with the dangerous, and at times entitled, culture we are creating in engineering departments and schools. This is troubling given the importance of why everyone — regardless of discipline — needs to develop a sense of cultural consciousness, empathy and respect. Reading will not solve the problems we face, but not reading is likely going to make them worse.

So how do we get ourselves out of this malaise? Culture change is hard, and slow. Cultivating habits is no less challenging. But we have to push back against the notion of what an engineer does early on in the curriculum. Engineering curricula need to incorporate reading and writing, with possible courses jointly taught by professors from different disciplines. Given the myriad ethical challenges we all face with modern technology, some institutions are rethinking ethics in science and engineering, by having humanists and computer scientists teaching courses together. This model has strong potential in incorporating reading that informs students about their history, society and our collective future. Ultimately, no single model will be universally applicable, but we need to realise that by reinforcing problematic perceptions, we are not creating engineering scholars who will change the world for the better, but a generation of graduates who will be incapable of playing their part in fixing the problems they inherit.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2020.

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