Education trends: The B.E.T.: Engineer or supertechnician?: Is the bachelor of technology a needed link between engineer and technician ... or simply the educator's answer to sagging enrollments?

With janitors calling themselves maintenance engineers, garbage men going under the guise of sanitation engineers, and industry promoting many top-grade technicians to positions as company engineers, there is little wonder that professionally trained engineers have lost ground to eroding waves of semantic look-alikes. While public understanding of any professional activity is probably minimal, "engineer" fails to convey a clear image that laymen (and many employers) are comfortable with. Contrast this with the almost automatic respect and recognition enjoyed by doctors and lawyers. Those who have pirated "engineer" as a cloak for other activities can't really be condemned. They've simply taken very businesslike advantage of an unprotected flank.