University of Virginia Library

Anxious

He is very conservative, anxious
to assume his place in Middle
America. He made better grades in
math and sciences in high school
than in English, history, and other
foreign languages, and he could
always "make things work", so his
guidance counselor recommended
engineering. He now
singlemindedly pursues his goal of
getting through school and into a
good, secluded job where his
hang-ups will not show up (to him,
anyway).

Toolies cannot, of course, be
created by engineering schools out
of just any given person. There
must be basic prerequisites. A
prime candidate must be antisocial,
selfish, withdrawn, and unsure of
himself. But even the prime
candidate is far from hopeless. A
good liberal arts education, proper
counseling, and extra-curricular
participation could make him a real
human being of this robot.
Unfortunately, industry has a need
for robots and engineering schools
must fill the demands with little
regard for the poor knacker-to-be
or his effects upon our culture.

The chief aim of the majority of
engineering faculty (those who are
forced to waste their time on
undergraduate affairs) is to
produce, with a minimum of
involvement, not a well rounded
person capable of living a life of
fulfillment, not a good citizen, not
a good father or husband, but a
living tool, an interchangeable part,
capable of immediate integration
into industry. With this goal in
mind the knacker factory tools-up
for production.