STEM vs. STEAM

[Steven Smith]

I'm not close enough to the source to understand exactly what is taught, so perhaps I could use some education from folks that have gone from STEM to STEAM in the classroom.

Part of my spiel to students, most of whom come from poor backgrounds has always been "STEM careers are in strong need. If you want to have a solid job that pays well enough for you to not have to worry about rent, having a car, middle class basics, most any job in engineering will get you there." Including Art (STEM>STEAM) might include it as a "valid career choice", which waters down that message at first glance. The only thing worse in my mind would be to add an extra S for sports and tell students we need more professional athletes in the world, and it is perfectly OK to plan on not needing school because you will get a $1M+ contract playing sports.

That being said, there are a lot of lesser paying jobs within STEM, though arguably still better than the average pure artistic career. I'm also careful to always note... at the end of the day, once you make enough money to pay for the absolute basics, it is more important to be happy with what you do than be wealthy.

All that being said, should we as STEM students and professionals value art and the importance of aesthetics? Absolutely. I think within 30 minutes of the FRC game release, our team had 10 ideas floating around on SteamPunk related art projects we wanted to do. The same way STEM professionals need to know management, economics, history, geography, and all the other basics, we need to have an appreciation for art. I don't know if it warrants extra emphasis over the other humanities, nor is it important to include as STEAM instead of STEM. If the powers that be think that by overemphasizing STEM we lost the creativity that comes with art, sure?