Looking beyond the numbers

Homer. Plato. Aristotle. Dante. Goethe. Twain. Longfellow. These are just some of the names Columbians inevitably see when they look up to the sky every day on campus. For some, though, fulfilling all the relevant requirements while finding a way to wedge in a class of personal interest feels like trying to seesaw with an anvil. And I was thinking, following my second meeting with my adviser, how in the world am I supposed to grow familiar with those names throughout my college career if the requirements are so painstakingly carved out for the next four years?

As a freshman dreaming about the beauty and significance of biomedical engineering, most likely coupled with pre-medical requirements, I’ve caught on pretty fast that there’s more work than there is time for—that is, if you believe six courses a semester plus a summer term is not a free lunch. Granted, we engineers are required to put up 27 “non-technical” credits, which are largely compensated for by the required CC or LitHum course and Art or Music Humanities—not to mention the University Writing and Economics requirement. Besides, most SEAS students come armed with plenty of AP credits, and what with all the problem sets, these credits render the final requirement—“Three [any non-tech] courses of your own choosing”—a tough sell.

For the first time, we are told to make our own decisions, and it’s the most exhilarating yet terrifying set of decisions we’ve had to make. Meanwhile, for us proud SEAS students, the only decision we have to make is whether we want to build bridges, circuits, medical devices, etc., and we’re off. This is a bittersweet blessing. While it lends peace of mind and allows us to focus on what we should be doing to develop our skills, it also keeps us from making our own commitments to personal discovery, to our growth as people, and as citizens of the world. Engineering, as President Obama himself has said numerous times, is the most crucial human endeavor on the professional spectrum; America doesn’t need more lawyers or businessmen. What America needs now are world-class engineers to build and innovate. But as I was walking away from Le Marteleur outside of Mudd, I was conflicted by the feeling that I wasn’t getting an Ivy League education—I was simply amassing a technical background. Most engineers in America don’t graduate from SEAS. Most of them don’t even come from Ivy League institutions. Why is it that Columbia engineers should only be more distinguishable by their alma mater, and perhaps by an extra humanities class the next professional wasn’t subjected to?

I imagine graduation on the magnificent Low Plaza and the lawns, looking up at the names etched in stone and realizing that the difference between then and now in terms of what I’d know about these names is simply most of what I overheard as my peers bonded over grit and tears before finals that tested their knowledge of Western literature, culture, and society. Yes, I am taking philosophy this first semester. Yes, I am making my exit with 6 credits towards my non-technical requirements. While my roommate sits, reads, and grows wiser and more thoughtful, I grow more appreciative of the beauty of the sciences. Since I was a child I saw the great human achievement in fields like biomedical engineering—but as a young adult, I see the weight and meaning of the education that Columbia affords to those students who may not heed President Obama’s call. I reject the idea that we need to ask Columbians to choose between their jobs and their education. I reject the argument that Columbia engineers are distinguished all that much by their discounted core requirement. What I came for in Columbia, versus CalTech or MIT or anywhere else, was a wholesome, wise education—one where engineers are grown as world-class citizens, not textbooks. And I truly believe that an institution such as this can help its engineers embody alumnus Herman Wouk’s words, that “the best things of all human history and thought were inside the rectangle.”

The author is a first-year in the School of Engineering and Applied sciences.