A classical education would require familiar training in math, science and English, but also include Greek, Latin and calligraphy. While some might find this appealing, others might point out that four courses in calculus is a perfectly adequate education in Greek. However, I would venture to say, that the majority of Engineering students are not interested in this archaic and rigid sense of education. So what is a modern, practical education? Although most plummers came to Waterloo because of the beautiful campus and benevolent fowl, some actually chose the school for its co-op program. Although many might claim that co-op is a supplement to your “real” education I intend to argue that co-op is actually the more valuable half of your learning experience, and school is the supplement.
I want to be clear, school is very important. It is a critical experience in your growth. Your university career is unique, precious, and your life will never again be quite like it. As wonderful as that is, it also reveals the limitations of how much you actually learn there. Oh, sure, you learn Fourier transforms, LRC circuitry and thermodynamics. You learn so much theory that it is sometimes actually surprising that it is physically possible. But you aren’t a mathematician, or a theoretical physicist. The world needs Albert Einsteins and Paul Diracs, but as an Engineer, a practical problem-solving innovator, these minutia are little more than esoteric trivia. There are important skills and talents that are necessary in your life but you learn these when you actually get a slice of life in co-op. In school you’ll learn all about the twisting backbones and confusing side-chains of polymers, but in co-op you are exposed to the entangled mess that is literature review.
Journal articles and patents do not read quite like your textbooks. In your labs you might be exposed to novel experiments like producing nylon, but on co-op you get more of a sense of what Caruthers must have gone through. Your neat little lab manual is a joke compared to the dauntingly ambiguous open plane of actual research. And that goes for a lot of problem solving in general. In courses, you can tell what the professors and TAs are looking for you to say or utilize. You’re presented with a very tricky challenge; until you realize that the technique you were taught last week works ideally here. School is kind of like the Legend of Zelda; the dungeons look terrifying but it’s always so convenient that the last weapon which Link stumbled upon in his quest solves all the puzzles, and then to boot you have TAs shouting “Look! Listen! Maybe you should apply this formula which the professor underlined and repeated thrice!” In co-op you have the inventory that you’ve acquired throughout the dungeons of school but now you actually have to figure out when and where to use what. And frankly, there are a lot of slingshots and butterfly nets.
People will often talk about how in school you learn to handle responsibility, that it’s a testament to work ethic and applying yourself. While school certainly challenges you, it does so in an impractical way. In school you learn to prioritize. There is always collateral damage and write-offs. But when you’re working and a project is really hard, there isn’t the option to just “let this one slide” and opt for a different marking scheme. There are consequences that are bigger than you. People are depending on you; your responsibility is to them, and to whomever they report. Real responsibility doesn’t have a bell curve option and you learn that in co-op.
It will also be said that school is a great environment because you can meet so many people and be exposed to so many ideas and really open your mind to the world. University is a haven of open-mindedness and progressive ideas, right? Well, not exactly. You will certainly meet lots of interesting people in your University career, but your social circle has been many-times distilled. The people around you are all a similar age, have similar interests, have similar ambitions and are doing similar things in their day-to-day life. In co-op you learn how to have professional conversations with people who are not necessarily fans of Arrested Development and Community, people who do not care passionately about the latest advancements in LEDs, and who have no interest whatsoever in B.O.A.T. racing. They range the age and political spectrum in ways you never experience at Waterloo. It’s great that you can get along with people who are different races, genders and sexual orientations. Try getting along with someone who thinks evolution is a hoax, or that Obama is a socialist. Now there is a lesson in diversity and tolerance; a lesson that we miss out on surrounded by a group of people in which an extremely disproportionate amount can name 151 Pokémon and discuss the power struggle between Goku and Vegeta.
Ultimately, I’m arguing what you already know to be true. When working on a project, interviewing for a job, or applying past experience to a new endeavour, the chances are you’re reaching into your memory to pull out experiences from co-op first, then maybe labs, but hardly ever classes. Does that mean school is useless? Certainly not! University is a great life experience and prepares you in many ways, but as for where you actually learn more? That is definitely co-op. The place where you learn actual skills, realistic problem solving, the meaning of responsibility, and how to interact and get along with many different kinds of people.
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