Is there too much focus on STEM? (Liberal Arts strikes back)

[StevenB]

Ian, thanks for brining up this article!

While I don't fully agree with Mr. Roth's fundamental premise, a couple paragraphs in the middle of his article match my thoughts exactly:

Originally Posted by Michael S. Roth

Many seem to think that by narrowing our focus to just science and engineering, we will become more competitive. This is a serious mistake.

Our leaders in government, industry and academia should realize that they don't have to make a choice between the sciences and the rest of the liberal arts. Indeed, the sciences are a vital part of the liberal arts.

I just graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from a private college that many (including some of the faculty) would consider a liberal arts college. I was also a participant in the Honors program, which replaced the core general education curriculum with a separate set of more intense an in-depth courses, which heavily emphasized English, history, philosophy, and so forth. The one part that wasn't replaced? Math. The honors students still had to take plain old college algebra - except that the majority of us already had credit for it based on our SAT/ACT scores.

Partly in jest and partly serious, I brought up the question during an open forum, "Given that honors engineers have to take six writing and history intensive courses, wouldn't it be appropriate for honors English and history majors to take calculus? [1]"

The response was predictable: "Do you want us to die?"

And that, I believe, is the problem. Math is no longer something any educated person should know; it's a subject that only nerds and "smart people" need to learn. Everyone else avoids it like the plague, to the point that people across the country make jokes about not being good at math. That needs to change.

I've done enough preaching to the choir. Let's carry on changing the culture.


[1] After hearing Arthur Benjamin, I think maybe the other majors should be required to take statistics instead.

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by StevenB

Partly in jest and partly serious, I brought up the question during an open forum, "Given that honors engineers have to take six writing and history intensive courses, wouldn't it be appropriate for honors English and history majors to take calculus? [1]"

I think it is a more serious question than jest. The non-STEM majors need to take more science and math courses. It would be be helpful to take 12 of those 60 hours and become a little more broadly educated.

And conversely, it would be helpful for the STEM majors to learn how to write.

.

[ayeckley]

Originally Posted by ebarker

And conversely, it would be helpful for the STEM majors to learn how to write..

I don't know about most folks here, but that's the sort of thing that I learned in grade school, right around the 4th grade. Is this not typical anymore within the U.S.?

[Darren Collins]

This divide between the humanities and sciences and the debate concerning their relationship and relative importance has been around for a long time. However, the discussion is no less important today. “The Two Cultures” Lecture given by Charles Percy Snow detailed this divide and the importance of addressing it.

One quote that is listed on the two cultures Wikipedia page seems applicable to the discussion.

“A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice I have been provoked and have asked the company how many of them could describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was also negative. Yet I was asking something which is the scientific equivalent of: Have you read a work of Shakespeare's?”


Personally, I agree that everyone doesn’t need to know everything. That being said, I think it would be beneficial for scientists and engineers to have greater exposure to the humanities. Some of the best engineers in our past have been deeply inspired by the arts. On the flip side, it is critical that the general public who are not scientists and engineers have more than a superficial understanding of the scientific method. Additionally, it would be desirable that everyone have an elementary grasp of fundamental physical and natural laws. Unfortunately, this is not the case in our society and it is a problem.