[Bryce2471]

I don't have much to contribute in the way of debate, but I'd like to take a second to call attention to important themes that have largely been left out of this thread.

The question at hand is "Should A for art be added to STEM?"

To me, the important points that should be discussed in order to generate any good answer to this question are as follows:

1. What is art?
If anyone can post a definition of "art" or "the arts" that everyone can agree on. I'll give them rep.
But seriously. I have read a broad range of definitions, and I have yet to decide witch is the best working definition to me.

2. What is STEM?
Same problem here. There are an enormous variety of definitions out there for technology and engineering especially.

3. What is the purpose of STEM?
Not of the fields, but of the acronym. In the end, art should be added to the acronym if and only if it helps the acronym achieve its purpose. This is again something I have no good answer for, as I was not listening in when the acronym was created.

4. Does STEAM aid in FIRST's mission?
This has been discussed in depth already, but it is an important question. The reality is that STEAM already exists as an acronym and is somewhat widely used. So maybe a better question is whether or not FIRST should use it.

So if future posters to this thread could either read and answer these questions or let me know what I'm missing; maybe we could begin to construct a mostly agreed upon conclusion. (or maybe not)