Bridging the gap |
This is an opinion piece explaining how I came across my topic and why I feel it is important for people to understand.
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The day was Feb. 17. At eight in the morning my California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Capstone class gathered in a circle of desks, eager to discuss the abstract idea of who will “own the future.”
I figured today would be no different than any other class meeting, until we opened up chapter two of Hal Niedzviecki’s book, Trees on Mars: Our Obsession with the Future.
The title reads, “Teaching Future: Why Schools are Teaching Change and Preaching Tech.” Exploring, in-depth, what the future of universities will be.
“There’s an overwhelming push from the administration at most universities to build up the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Math] fields,” said John Tresch, a historian of science at the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview with Niedzviecki.
He continued: “Both because national productivity depends in part on scientific productivity and because there’s so much federal funding for science.”
This sparked an interesting class debate … when it comes to innovating for the future, is STEM more important than the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS)? Surprisingly, the majority said yes. I was shocked, the class just bet against its own major.
Students educated in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are just as important as students in STEM when it comes to “owning the future.” Both are needed to give a balanced ethical solution to future dilemmas.
If the human population is going to be more than nine billion people by the year 2050, solving the world’s biggest problems, we need the most knowledgeable minds providing answers.
Science is not going to fix everything.
Yes, it increases our understanding of the world and creates specific solutions. But even the most thorough scientific knowledge will fail if there is no respect to understand and incorporate cultural differences.
Politicians in Texas said: “[Liberal Arts] is self-indulgence, and of no onward value to society, so there's no reason why such niceties as art appreciation, the history of Russia or the theologies of Hinduism should be publicly supported,” according to The Guardian.
This baffles me. To properly address complex global issues, it requires a combination of STEM and AHSS, to not only design and deliver solutions but also take in to account cultural context.
Technology and engineer-based projects will fail if the concept, design and implementation lack perspective on how local communities and humanity will experience it.
So, no, politicians in Texas, you are wrong, there is a valuable reason for Liberal Arts students.
The world is not only made of just physical elements, it is made up of history, experiments, materiality, biological life, light and the human involvement. Challenges we face need to be met with multiple perspectives.
Connecting the two fields is necessary to overcome: “the provision of clean air and water, food, health, energy, universal education, human rights and the assurance of physical safety,” according to the American Academy of Arts and Science’s report, “Heart of the Matter.”
I cannot deny the importance of STEM, but even the National Academy of Engineering stated that engineers today need to be made up of more than just math and science: “they must be creative problem solvers who help shape our future by improving our health, happiness, and safety.”
A person’s happiness can’t be defined by a formula, but you can understand a person’s happiness with psychology, see how society interacts with sociology, and explain a person’s experience with communications.
Because of STEM, there is a method to understand why things are the way they are, how to find a solution and then apply it. With the help of AHSS, the emotional, mental and physical effects on life will be taken into consideration.
For the world’s needs to be met in a socially just way, humanists, philosophers, educators, communicators and journalists, are needed as well as, scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians.
I figured today would be no different than any other class meeting, until we opened up chapter two of Hal Niedzviecki’s book, Trees on Mars: Our Obsession with the Future.
The title reads, “Teaching Future: Why Schools are Teaching Change and Preaching Tech.” Exploring, in-depth, what the future of universities will be.
“There’s an overwhelming push from the administration at most universities to build up the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Math] fields,” said John Tresch, a historian of science at the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview with Niedzviecki.
He continued: “Both because national productivity depends in part on scientific productivity and because there’s so much federal funding for science.”
This sparked an interesting class debate … when it comes to innovating for the future, is STEM more important than the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS)? Surprisingly, the majority said yes. I was shocked, the class just bet against its own major.
Students educated in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are just as important as students in STEM when it comes to “owning the future.” Both are needed to give a balanced ethical solution to future dilemmas.
If the human population is going to be more than nine billion people by the year 2050, solving the world’s biggest problems, we need the most knowledgeable minds providing answers.
Science is not going to fix everything.
Yes, it increases our understanding of the world and creates specific solutions. But even the most thorough scientific knowledge will fail if there is no respect to understand and incorporate cultural differences.
Politicians in Texas said: “[Liberal Arts] is self-indulgence, and of no onward value to society, so there's no reason why such niceties as art appreciation, the history of Russia or the theologies of Hinduism should be publicly supported,” according to The Guardian.
This baffles me. To properly address complex global issues, it requires a combination of STEM and AHSS, to not only design and deliver solutions but also take in to account cultural context.
Technology and engineer-based projects will fail if the concept, design and implementation lack perspective on how local communities and humanity will experience it.
So, no, politicians in Texas, you are wrong, there is a valuable reason for Liberal Arts students.
The world is not only made of just physical elements, it is made up of history, experiments, materiality, biological life, light and the human involvement. Challenges we face need to be met with multiple perspectives.
Connecting the two fields is necessary to overcome: “the provision of clean air and water, food, health, energy, universal education, human rights and the assurance of physical safety,” according to the American Academy of Arts and Science’s report, “Heart of the Matter.”
I cannot deny the importance of STEM, but even the National Academy of Engineering stated that engineers today need to be made up of more than just math and science: “they must be creative problem solvers who help shape our future by improving our health, happiness, and safety.”
A person’s happiness can’t be defined by a formula, but you can understand a person’s happiness with psychology, see how society interacts with sociology, and explain a person’s experience with communications.
Because of STEM, there is a method to understand why things are the way they are, how to find a solution and then apply it. With the help of AHSS, the emotional, mental and physical effects on life will be taken into consideration.
For the world’s needs to be met in a socially just way, humanists, philosophers, educators, communicators and journalists, are needed as well as, scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians.