Dr. Tiefenthaler, the President of Colorado College - Colorado's only private liberal arts college then posted a guest editorial in the Denver Post. She provides additional quotes from Governor Scott around his desire to increase the number of kids pursuing STEM fields as a means to create more jobs for Florida; "I want to spend our money getting people science, technology, engineering and math degrees. That's what our kids need to focus all of their time and attention on: Those type of degrees that when they get out of school, they can get a job." Dr. Tiefenthaler makes the argument that the kinds of skills students studying in the liberal arts gain are the kinds of skills employers are looking for - critical thinking skills, reading, sorting through and analyzing vast amounts of informtation to name a few.
While I did suggest that I made a bit of a stretch in posting in the Higher Education in Colorado blog I believe this issue has a great deal of relevance in our own state. Consider the number of charter schools that are sprouting up in Colorado that have at their core a focus on STEM or the number of organizations focused on STEM issues. Denver School of Science and Technology with 5 different campuses; the Colorado STEM Alliance with support from Metro State College and the Community College of Denver to name a couple.
The issue doesn't have to be STEM against Liberal Arts or education against jobs. I believe there is a place for both in the discussion. What I find concerning about the governors remarks is the narrowing of what is a viable and "good" pathway to a job. And as we narrow that pathway we also narrow the resources available to other pathways as well as the people who can participate. I do understand the natural tendancy to want to narrow during tough economic times - there is only so much money and only so many places it can go. Yet, I feel strongly that it is precisely at this time in higher education when we must not be narrowing our definitions of the pathways to success but expanding them. And, while STEM fields are important and are growing the richness of our communities does not come from everyone doing the same thing but from diverse people engaged in diverse work.
To close out this blog post I find myself wearing my parental hat and feeling like if my daughter should enjoy math and science that I would encourage her in those areas - yet should she enjoy art and music I wold encourage her in those areas as well. And perhaps the bigger point is she can enjoy and pursue them all and that is the beauty of a liberal arts education.
My boss spends a lot of time in Washington, DC these days because he was inducted as a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering a few years ago. Upon returning from DC recently he announced that STEM should really be STEAM (including “arts” in the equation) and that there is support for this expansion in the education circles that he frequents. Yes, science, technology, engineering, and math are important topics and will be critical to the future success of our nation. However, individuals who have more training in communication, systems thinking, philosophy, political science, and a host of other disciplines are also vital to our economy.
ReplyDeleteEngineers are typically trained to be precise and methodical, and as such, they are excellent at finding solutions to bounded problems. However, that educational paradigm frequently translates into graduates who are highly specialized but are not interested in, or fully aware of, the complex human factors that rule the world around us.
As an engineer who has spent her career in student services and attempting to broaden the perspective of what engineering teaches students, I vote for academic diversity as the only way for the US to remain competitive in a global marketplace.
I could not help but get a tad flustered by the comments of the Florida governor. As a former student of the arts and sciences I cannot imagine what my education and life would be like without exposure to the arts in combination to the sciences. I agree there is room for both and we as a society should not be so narrowly defined by success being only in STEM.
ReplyDeleteTo reference the blog on pre-professional degrees, are these students really getting out of school and able to get a job as the governor states, or are they entering a Master’s degree to be qualified in the STEM fielding they are seeking? I would say to some extent what the Florida governor is sharing my not be based in data but rather opinion. I personally would not want my child solely focused on STEM, to me there is more to life than that.
I love the idea of STEAM (maybe we should follow up on this idea). We as a society should really seek to have a well-rounded citizenry. Citizens who can discuss the works of art and literature but also work create new technologies. I often think where would we be without the arts and literature and the music that gives you a break after studying the sciences? The arts are more a part of our individual lives than I think we recognize. The arts are what you watch when you get home, listen to in the car, and potentially what you relax to during your weekends at home.
Evaluating things in the life is according to importance and priority, there are important, more important and the most important. From here, I support the proposal of the governor of Florida because he speaks from a place of responsibility that he has to be seriously considered in the future of the state by ensuring a good future for the student to have jobs, that make them a decent life and strengthen the economic power of the state, society and market force.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the most important after graduation is to get a job, because without a job the person cannot live or enjoy anything around him of the literature and the arts, and his life will become miserable and the result may be that he will become a dangerous person to himself, society and even on the state's economy.
Finally, although the priority in spending must be for education which guarantees to student a good job in the future, but I want to say that I'm not supporting lack of spending on literature and arts because they are important and valued, but I’m agree with reducing spending and reducing the number of its access and higher rates of GPA required to reduce the increasing number of their students.
This is the fine line between what is the purpose of higher education and what does our country need? Do we need to create educational opportunities that lead to jobs or do we need to allow students to discover their strengths and allow them to choose a major that best matches their passions?
ReplyDeleteI have a bachelor's degree in music performance. What the heck am I supposed to do with that in a job field if I don't want to teach? To be fair, my friends and colleagues who shared my major all knew that the major we had chosen might be financially worthless. We also knew that the job prospects were limited. So why did we do it anyway? Because we loved it. We loved every minute of it; music enriched our souls and none of us would take it back and do it differently.
I think we talk a lot about not setting up students to fail in the "real world", but I challenge us to realize that most of us who chose degrees in the arts/social sciences know very well what we are getting ourselves into--and we do it because it's what we want to do.
Great response Jill! And thanks for the post, Libby. I think the governor's comments were irresponsible. Our society could not function if we only allowed students to major in STEM areas. As Jill stated, music (and the arts in general) enrich the soul and make us human. The arts encourage our creativity as sentient beings, and allow us to express ourselves in beautiful and wonderful ways. Without arts education, society will fail. We've seen what has happened in public schools when funding for the arts was cut: students become less engaged, less creative, and tend to act out more.
ReplyDeleteAs future educational leaders, we need to speak out for education in the arts.