In response to the article printed on Nov. 30 [online: “Snell: Classical liberal education is necessary in a republic,” print: “How much is a degree worth today?”], I feel the view that engineers and other technical majors are “socially naive, politically ignorant and mindless law-abiding subjects of a self-created tyranny by the idiotic masses” is appalling.

Many of our nation’s stances on technical topics such as energy are decided by individuals without technical degrees. If an engineer needs more classic liberal classes to be “well-rounded,” every student in a non-technical degree should be required to take technical classes such as thermodynamics and others to become equally “well-rounded.” This would minimize the power of rhetoric over the average college graduate on such topics, and guide them to vote for individuals with the most promising, logical stance.

The people who worked on the Apollo program, the vehicle that took humans to the moon, are completely anonymous in our society. Their education, political stance,or social tendencies are unknown because what these people accomplished far outweighs the possibility that they might be socially naive, or politically ignorant, especially considering the impact their actions had on politics and social norms. Furthermore, neither of these attributes can be objectively measured in an individual.

Engineers might be seen as “tax-revenue-generating drones” but some, such as the ones on the Apollo program, have done more for our society than many of our leaders. They pushed the boundaries of human existence and achieved what quite a large number of people, including generations of leaders, philosophers and social intellectuals, believed impossible. Our open society did help promote this achievement, but that does not mean everyone should be tasked with constantly analyzing and testing our societal norms, or that they are a burden because they choose not to. Similarly, not everyone should build a 6.7-million-pound rocket.

I would agree our education system has faltered, but only because of the lack of material taught in the field of study, not the lack of material taught from other fields. A classic liberal education for every individual is not necessary for them to become positive members of society. It is very possible that our government and society have issues because there are too few individuals with engineering and science degrees. The Apollo program consisted of 376,700 people, cost about $200 billion adjusted for inflation (1.4 percent of the current 2011 U.S. budget), and accomplished one of the greatest achievements of mankind. The 111th U.S. Congress consisted of 535 members with only six engineers and could not balance a budget.