Okay, first of all, some of the replies here are so immature. Like what is the deal with dad and son conversation. Nobody dedicates their dream to impress his son. Come on, can we not give a better answer.
Also, it is normal thing for one engineering program to look down on others, it is an acadamical tradition, or social norm.
Right now I am in CE, I just finished my 2nd year and going into internship, where I would be assisiting engineers to implement ligh rail transit in a city.
I know what you mean by people looking down on civil. I think people look down because CE lacks of innovation. For example, in Korea, nobody likes CE because the coutry is very advanced and competitive in electronics (just ask how powerful is the founder of Samsung).
People appreicate engineers when they use their technical knowledge to solve current problems which makes life efficient or better, or making a new product that is useful (just think of what Apple or Silicon Valley do).
However, CE is very traditional, and it involves some dirty work as well, such as working in construction site (nobody thinks it is a good idea to work in construction site because some people on site are messed ip, like alchoholic or drugs..., and construction site is a dangerous place to be). In CE, there is no new invention other concrete or steels. To be honest, who is passionate about how concrete or steel will behave.
However, I like the fact that CE is very focused in its field. Like there is no certain job in mechanical or industrial engineering; they are very broad.
Also, many engineers say that they do not like their engineering field, but want go into business. Some ppl say that because the business ppl get to be manager or boss of engineers and engineers have to work their *** off to meet the demand in time.
Or some ppl want to be business man because it involves more interaction with ppl.
I am not going into a world of business and engineers and write an essay, maybe in a another topic. haha