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June 2016 • SMT Magazine 41 THE PRODUCTION ENGINEERING STUDENT AS CUSTOMER school) segments. The reason for this is the rec- ognition of the incredibly important role an educated population has in a representative re- public (as opposed to a collective, authoritarian government). Each individual has the ultimate sovereignty and freedom that was not granted by a government, but naturally occurred when they were born. Each individual agrees to yield a portion of that freedom to a government they elected by granting the government certain limited, enumerated powers. Thomas Jefferson believed there were two crucial elements in the success of the experiment in self-government that he helped begin, one where the govern- ment served the people and every individual was equal under the law. This disciple of democracy proposed a state- funded primary and secondary educational sys- tem for his state of Virginia. What?! The man to whom many attribute the quote, "the govern- ment that governs least governs best," (actually, the quote is properly assigned to Henry Thoreau, but certainly contains Jeffersonian sentiments as well). Thomas Jefferson proposing that the Virginia State government is granted the power and responsibility to educate the people? Can it be? Yes, because there was something more important at stake—the survival of the nascent United States of America. Thomas Jefferson believed there were two crucial elements in the success of the "experi- ment" in self-government he helped begin; a government that served the people instead of the other way around. These were: 1. An educated population: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." –Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 6 Jan- uary 1816 2. A virtuous population—and, education helps promote virtue. "I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condition, promoting the virtue and advancing the happiness of man." –Thomas Jefferson to Cornelius C. Blatchly, 21 October 1822 Note the following facts about our current educational pipeline: • In the U.S., some exit the pipeline before successful completion of high school: about two out of 10. • Among the eight out of 10 completing high school: about six of these go on to college, the post-secondary segment of the pipeline. • Only about one-third of the six of 10 who enroll college (two), graduate with a degree from a four-year program. – Source: National Center for Education Statis- tics. So only two out of 10 make it through to the end of the post-secondary segment of the pipeline—that is for ALL students, ALL majors. And, we all have that sinking feeling that learn- ing standards have dropped significantly. If the standards demanded in the decades of the '50s and '60s were maintained today, the success rate would be significantly less. This is the percep- tion I have concerning industrial or production engineering students. It's based on discussions I have had with those who teach in academia and recent grads I have worked with in industry. However, it's not linear. There are some incred- ibly gifted students that form a small percent- age in the total industrial engineering popula- tion, but for the most part the masses manage to slide through and into industry, relative to the standards of 50–60 years ago. This is true without even questioning the relevance of the skill set with which they graduate. Do students today have less native intelli- gence? Are they incapable of the same level of academic achievement? Is the issue the addi- tional new technologies they are forced to mas- ter? Has the physics changed? How much does the fiscal success of a post-secondary school (college) rely on keeping their classrooms filled? If the preceding part of the pipeline, the second- ary segment, reduces standards for social engi- neering motives (everybody gets a trophy!) and sends the ill-educated on through, what does a college do? What they do is find a way to keep their classrooms filled. And now we hear some politicians say, everyone is entitled to a free college