Er for Engineers

    There is a growing trend among many engineers to put an Er. as initials in their name. Er. Anup J Deka?? Wow!!! Looks so cool.  And have you checked out the clamorous voices and loud outcries in social networking sites fighting for the rights of engineers? If you haven’t, then below are some snippets of the effort put in by these Anna Hazares for engineers.

If Dr. is for Doctors , then Er. is for engineers. I guess, fair enough. Engineers should get their due too.But I decided to dig and scrape together some historical facts from Wiki so as to further bolster the case of engineers. Dr. or Doctor originates from the Latin word ‘docere’ which means ‘to teach’.  Quite aptly, Doctorate appeared in medieval Europe as a license to teach. And law being the  first academic degrees in the world, lawyers were the first to have been awarded the coveted ‘Dr.’ title we are fighting for. Since the 12^th century, doctorate degrees were awarded after 5 years of intensive study after school. And the earliest doctors (theology, law and medicine ) reflected the historical separation of university study into three broad fields. So Dr. doesn’t just mean a doctor who professes medicine  (Dr. of Medicine) but can even be a Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph. D.) or even a Doctor of Engineering. Even for medical professionals, the title ‘Dr.’ can be used only after a 4 year MD course after the 5 year MBBS as per Section 49(1) of the Medical Act 1983 of UK but since a long time, for courtesy even those with MBBS were addressed as ‘Dr.’ in certain countries. So technically speaking, every field of study be it medical, basic sciences, law or engineering gives everyone an equal shot at getting a Doctorate degree or embellish their names with the initials 'Dr.' Does that mean that no injustice  has been meted out  to engineers? Does it imply that engineers are being given a fair shot like the medical professionals? Yes it does.

     Case dismissed! My fellow engineers, even you can get a ‘Dr’ title. But you need to move your lazy arse and start working towards a Ph.D if you want one. There are no shortcuts in life. Engineer real cool stuff and get your doctorate degree. Deserve it. Just putting an Er. as initial without even comprehending the underlying facts behind ‘Dr.’  is mere folly, stupidity and an act of ostentation. You may argue that the courtesy of Dr offered to MBBS should be extended to B.Tech. But unlike the medical professionals,  engineers are mass produced in the mushroom of private colleges with little or no quality. Every profession has the same dignity .If you are still obsessed with your ‘Er’ title remember we would soon have a demeaning world where everyone is addressed by their profession like ‘Tr.’ (Teacher), ‘Lr.’ (Lawyer), ‘Cr. ‘ (this would be a toss up between cobbler and carpenter!) . And we would only recreate  the age-old work based class system of India.