By Steve Lohr, The New York Times, April 11, 2009

In the Depression, smart college students flocked into civil engineering to design the highway, bridge and dam-building projects of those days. In the Sputnik era, students poured into the sciences as America bet on technology to combat the cold war Communist challenge. Yes, the jobs beckoned and the pay was good. But those careers, in their day, had other perks: respect and self-esteem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/weekinreview/12lohr.html?_r=1