Identity issues and Genetic predispositions

Based on last week's readings and conversation, I think the need to have an identity after having in existence is one of the cons of engineering. From a philosophical perspective, having an essence and then realizing and reflecting on that essence is going to generate different conclusions about that essence. Should there be an expectation of agreement? It probably happened with other professions (dare I say that) or fields, but to complicate it, some of their names and titles were actually derived from the activity that they do, ie., TEACHer, BARBer, CARPENT(i)ER. Engineers engine-ing? It is probably impossible, but it is almost as if the field/profession should have been named before it became, and much of our wrestling for identity and position is a response to others already having position and identity. We fight for respect when we have such power, and that causes me to wonder why we need such respect and identity when we already have power. (I choose not to go into what having that power actually means and the pros and cons to that. I think it is safe to say there are potential good and dangers associated with said power.) But how does it change the work or the essence of what we do? I would delve into identity work given the time. We rebel against boundaries others superimposed onto us, and then generate boundaries again. Such an interesting cycle.

I shift to observe how this is happening to engineering education. Do we fit into engineering or do we fit into education? Are we taking pieces of both because we are a grafted newborn? Are we creating our own space? If we are creating our own space, and we see how others have evolved, do we do it the same way and if we do not, then doing it a new way is still doing it some way. That way is responding to a previously established way by either agreeing with it or disagreeing and doing something else (opposite, nuanced, etc.)...but possibly in the same manner. Most of our movements are routines we cannot actually avoid...but uber-reflection has potential to do something different in the space afforded to us by others. So