Right, I understand your point. I said in an earlier post that an engineer is one who obtains an engineering degree from a certified university. I realize that it's pedantic and elitist, and there's definitely a part of me who thinks it's idiotic. Because it is. It's a title, who cares right? It doesn't lessen the worth of my degree. I've been trying to come up with valid reasons for why it's important for only people who fit my definition to be called an engineer but I can't think of any. So you're right.
However, I still think it's wrong for people who don't exhibit these qualities to call themselves an engineer. If you make sick beats on your macbook, that's great. But don't call yourself a beat mix engineer.
Edit: Thought of some reasons
It's similar to the "doctor" title. You can be the worlds greatest doctor. Self-taught, you can do everything from intubation to surgery. However, you're still not a doctor. You practice medicine. Why? There's things that you can only learn from someone who is more skilled than you, and who is skilled at teaching. That's what a professor is (simple definition). They are an authority on their topic and are the best place to learn from. They teach things that books don't cover. They have experience. They can tell you when you're wrong, and unlike a book can teach you the most current standards and techniques.
Another point is the completeness of education. Your coworker, does he know vector calculus? Linear algebra? The forward-active voltage for a BJT? Maybe. But there's no guarantee he does. A degree from a certified university guarantees that you know the salient points of your field (not always true, but for my argument it is). If you don't have a degree, there's no guarantee. And this knowledge is important.
To say that a professor is the best person to learn from isn't 100% true. I had a linear algebra professor who simply lectured by reading straight from the book and then occasionally drew the diagrams. Alas, he apparently was a valuable research professor and had tenure, so there's little that could be done. In this case, the professor was hardly the best approach towards learning the subject.
And as for experience, well, in the case of a CS student wishing to enter industry there's a good chance that the majority of your professors never even worked in industry. So if you're looking for people with experience to learn from, well, then you're in quite an unfortunate situation.
This led me to conclude that a degree offers no such guarantee that someone knows something. It offers a guarantee that someone was introduced to a number of concepts and demonstrated an understanding (or knack for cheating, cramming, what have you) good enough to pass and move forward. This is why I shudder at the thought of hiring old classmates who had to be hand-held through their 4 (or more) years of university, I know better despite what their degree might say.
Which is why that people who earned a degree...earned a degree, that's it. As far as I can tell they have no right to call themselves an engineer until they begin to practice engineering and practice it well enough to demonstrate the value of their thinking.
The ideal professor is (a) a world-recognized expert in the appropriate field, and (b) a really good teacher. Frequently, you'll find one or the other, but not both. Far too frequently, you find neither.
But the best professors I've had (and I've had a bunch) were the ones that really did combine both. (And frankly, I can forgive a lot of poor teaching in return for a "well, this is technically true, but no one really does it that way; they use this shortcut...."
As for a university education not providing immediately applicable industrial experience, well, that's kinda not the point of it. Sort of the difference between passing the FE exam and being a PE.
My coworker knows some calculus. I doubt he knows linear algebra. The forward-active voltage for a BJT? Maybe one other person I work with knows that, I doubt he does. I did not when I graduated, but then I am not a EE. My degrees are in Engineering Physics and Fluid Mechanics. Almost by accident I have become a flight test instrumentation engineer with the official job title of "Senior Electronics Engineer". I have tried hard to remedy my EE related shortcomings through self-study, and will continue to do so. I would never call myself an EE -- just an engineer.
I agree with you, for the purposes of your argument, that degree should serve as a guarantee. It is an important signifier of mastered domain knowledge, and more importantly, a signifier of the ability to master new domains.
However, I still think it's wrong for people who don't exhibit these qualities to call themselves an engineer. If you make sick beats on your macbook, that's great. But don't call yourself a beat mix engineer.
Edit: Thought of some reasons It's similar to the "doctor" title. You can be the worlds greatest doctor. Self-taught, you can do everything from intubation to surgery. However, you're still not a doctor. You practice medicine. Why? There's things that you can only learn from someone who is more skilled than you, and who is skilled at teaching. That's what a professor is (simple definition). They are an authority on their topic and are the best place to learn from. They teach things that books don't cover. They have experience. They can tell you when you're wrong, and unlike a book can teach you the most current standards and techniques.
Another point is the completeness of education. Your coworker, does he know vector calculus? Linear algebra? The forward-active voltage for a BJT? Maybe. But there's no guarantee he does. A degree from a certified university guarantees that you know the salient points of your field (not always true, but for my argument it is). If you don't have a degree, there's no guarantee. And this knowledge is important.