Advantages of Humanities for Education and The Negative Effects of Their Elimination

The age old expression “there are always two sides to a story” is a very important adage when applied to education. Liberal Arts colleges have changed and adapted this saying to fit their style of education. The institutions of higher learning often have students take courses that talk about a similar concept, but from different disciplines. This is incredibly important to a holistic education. However, the recent push towards STEM education and elimination of the humanities is very disheartening. Specializing in one area is not an effective way to work towards the future. The liberal arts not only teach you for the job market today, but the future as well. The importance of perspective not shapes higher education, but the entirety of a human being.

As today’s society evolves, it becomes more and more reliant on technology. In turn, many countries have felt the need to educate more people capable of working in these fields. Misturu Obe, a specialist in economics and international business, reports a specific and relevant example of this in a recent Wall Street Journal article. This specific situation occurs in Japan, one of the most advanced countries in the world. Their main objective “is to transform Japan's government-funded universities into either global leaders in scientific research or schools focused on vocational training” and consequently, limit the study of the humanities and Liberal Arts (Obe 2). The Japanese hope to model school’s like the California Institute of Technology and maximize their tech-ready personnel. This approach to the education system may not actually be in the best interest of the country.

A similar situation is happening within the United States as well but with slightly different motives. The United States has struggled in the recent past regarding national test scores. Math and science scores are surprisingly low for a national power such as the United States. Due to these poor scores, there has been legislation from as high as the President to counteract this trend. In an article from the Christian Science Monitor, Amanda Paulson lays out the details to Obama’s plan to push STEM education. After the US was ranked fourteenth in math and nineteenth in science by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there was an uproar for a change in the educational system (Paulson 3). Many including President Obama believed “the nation that out-educates us today is going to out-compete us tomorrow” and therefore, there is a need to fund STEM to ensure the US is at the forefront of innovation (Paulson 2). In response, Obama signed the “Educate to Innovate” act which granted $250 million dollars in funds to further STEM education and create more quality teachers in these fields. However, the effort to push STEM in order to gain an economic edge may be in vain.

Moreover, countries with particurily high scores in math and science which also contain many high tech companies, do not necessarily do well economically. This is yet another flaw with the modern push towards STEM. Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and columnist for the Washington Post, provides evidence against the assumed association that solid scores in STEM fields lead to economic success. Zakaria recognizes Sweden and Israel as countries with a large number of high tech companies who have also pushed the STEM fields. He also relates this to an internationally based study of foreign economics and technological advancements. Israel ranked first, the US second, and Sweden sixth in providing the world with technological advancements. Contrary to popular belief, this did not lead to them having high economic position. In the study, “all three countries fare surprisingly poorly in the OECD rankings. Sweden and Israel performed even worse than the United States on the 2012 assessment, landing overall at 28th and 29th, respectively, among the 34 most-developed economies” (Zakaria 7). Both Israel and Sweden have made leaps and bounds in regards to their STEM programs. Due to their focus on the sciences, their children score very well on standardized tests. While test scores and their technological production seems to look good on paper, it does not have the true desired effect on their respective societies.

There is an overarching theme within the push of the STEM fields: a removal or lack of importance with respect to the liberal arts. These are all examples where the liberal arts are put to the side in favor of their supposedly more profitable and marketable cousin, STEM. While the complete disregard of the liberal arts is frightening, it also has hidden value. Many successful people, such as Mark Zuckerberg, often praise their liberal roots. The liberal arts and a well-rounded education often provide their students with many tools for their future, personal marketability, and a broadened frame of mind. These colleges achieve these outcomes using perspective and a wide range of classes. The solution to the push for STEM, is already here. The Liberal Arts and their benefits have the ability to solve the epidemic that is the STEM craze.

One of the benefits of attending a Liberal Arts college is the tools that you are ‘given’ when you graduate. Through the use of perspective and many different classes, students develop many new skills. These perspectives are often across different disciplines with viewpoints that are not typical. This allows students as well as professors to grow as a result. William Cronon, critically acclaimed author and thinker, details the positive consequences of the Liberal Arts. One of the most important skills learned while attending a Liberal Arts is the ability to critically think. The ability to “look at a complicated reality, break it into pieces, and figure out how it works in order to do practical things in the real world” is an important skill not only for today, but forever (Cronon 5). This is a large strength of the Liberal Arts. The Liberal Arts prepares their students for the future by giving them the ability to solve problems and think critically. This allows them to allow adapt and change to the ever-changing world around them.

After graduation, the majority of students are looking for employment. One of the biggest benefits from a Liberal Arts, from both a student and parent’s point of view, is their job marketability after the finish their degree. Also, many students have the opportunity to receive STEM Grants, and this remains a great advantage in this system. We described how students can receive a grant in our informative article on STEM grants. Critically acclaimed author on personal growth and advancement, Carol Kleiman, writes about the skills as well as the power of employment the Liberal Arts provide. She retells a story about John Marshall, an engineer with a degree from Princeton (Kleiman 1). John realized he had obtained a good degree from a prestigious school. However, he felt something was missing. Marshall recalled “[he] had too narrow a technical education, and while that helps you meet your employer's immediate needs, you're not left with any way to navigate your life” (Kleiman 3). This is a common problem with narrow technical degrees; once they have left their field, they are unsure what to do. This is because they did not get a broad and diverse education such as those at Liberal Arts schools. To solve this issue, John went back to school to get a Master’s degree in the Liberal Arts. Because fewer and fewer issues are black and white, companies need “People with a deeper vision are able to answer questions not only about why, but how” (Kleiman 9). Ideas similar to this are often found in Social Progress by John Dewey. Dewey further illustrates it is not enough to know about something, but rather to think about the higher points. Why does this happen? What are the consequences? Questions like these are typical to the Liberal Arts, but not as much STEM. Those who are able to ask the questions that are not straightforward and come up with a logical conclusion are some of the most valuable in the workforce (Plato 5). Students who are able to think critically and have a variety of tools at their disposal will be much more marketable when they graduate.

Moreover, with the increased variety of classes taken along coupled with different teaching styles and viewpoints, the mind will expand. While many may argue college is simply about learning new material, that is simply not the case. College is a time to expand you horizons and look beyond yourself. The liberal arts especially offer this opportunity more than say, large state schools. With smaller class sizes, students are able to know their professor better, as well as each other. This leads to more communication as well as hearing many different viewpoints from people of different race, religion, origin, and sexual orientation. Being able to hear first-hand accounts of these different backgrounds offers a tremendous benefit to the students. Because of a broader view on the world, “they have the intellectual range and emotional generosity to step outside their own experiences and prejudices, thereby opening themselves to perspectives different from their own” (Cronon 4). Students and educators who are open-minded and willing to learn and accept differences are those who will thrive in a liberal arts environment.

As the STEM fields continue to grow and be thrusted into the faces of perspective students, one must look at possible solutions. Although STEM does have some benefits, the things it does not provide, such as many humanities and variety, can harm their students. Liberal arts schools are one possible solution to this problem. Through humanities and different perspectives, students and faculty can experience different viewpoints and become a more well-rounded human being.