Rebar at School?

Whoever thought that reinforcing steel would have been such an involved subject?  I certainly didn’t and I am supposed to be a well educated individual with years of experience.

At first glance, concrete structures have the appearance of plain, grey man made rock with no more to offer than what we see.  We construct our buildings with it, store our water in it and create our roadways and railways on it, but rarely does the average person stop to think what is really behind the Portland cement mask.  This lack of recognition may be the reason that our school system neglects to incorporate reinforcing into the curriculum of building technology programs.  As a graduate from the Construction Engineering Technology – Architecture program from Conestoga College, I can personally attest to the brief time spent educating students on what is one of the most important pieces of the construction puzzle.  I mean no disrespect to my program or my College in any way, but firmly believe that rebar should be given more attention than previously allotted.

The only way to improve one of the best programs from one of the best Colleges in Canada is to try to squeeze more applicable information that the construction world deems necessary into an already tight scholastic schedule.  I do recall a few days in which the subject was briefly discussed and remember the excitement which exhumed from the professor around the subject.  Although reinforcing steel didn’t have the same allure as the giant w-sections and other great steel structural members, one thing could always be said.  Without rebar, concrete is nothing.

Imagine a human walking around without a skeleton or gypsum wall board hung without a frame to hold it. Our bodies would never get off the floor and our houses would fall to the ground with no hesitation.  The same can be said about concrete; reinforcing steel is its skeleton.  To further the subject knowing that their compressive and tensile strengths are unsimilar, concrete and steel complement each other as if they were one entity. However, rebar can stand alone; concrete may for a while only to yield to its own mass and the loads it was designed to withstand.

I truly stand with the firm belief that there is room in our construction engineering programs to influx more time to our friend, the rebar.  Its importance is unquestionable and its place in construction is well rooted for the unforeseeable future.  The youth of this country consists of individuals who will one day be running our Municipalities and construction companies.  Wouldn’t it be a relieving thought to know that the homes, hospitals and entertainment facilities that we enjoy will not come crumbling down?  Rebar at school: I think so.