Socially Humanistic Technocrats: Bringing Sensitivity to Workplace

Humanities and social sciences along with mathematics and natural sciences are the core of liberal learning. Humanities and social sciences are a valuable part of a balanced educational experience because they contribute to understanding the context of problems and development of skills in critical thinking. Engineers need to consider the context of problems as they design solutions, and so the quality of solutions depends in part on the richness of the engineer's understanding of context. The engineer might encounter difficulty communicating the questions and answers to a broader audience. Alternatively, an engineer whose education includes substantial grounding in humanities and social sciences is likely to recognize the impact of the engineering decisions not only upon the more narrowly framed math, science and engineering questions but upon the more broadly framed questions informed by social sciences and the humanities. In summary, a broad education is necessary for 21st century engineers to think critically about issues confronting them and develop solutions. This paper would be exploring the impact of such courses on students who have undertaken them as a part of the curriculum and the difference it has made on their work experience.