Education Reform: Can You Over Emphasize Math and Science?

Currently there is a move in the public education debate to point policy toward S.T.E.M., Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the four areas in which American students seem to be falling behind and must improve in order to remain competitive among the world's most powerful countries.

It is easy to accept the argument for S.T.E.M. without too much objection, until you look at the big picture. Is there a move afoot to point students in the direction of math, sciences, and technology at the expense of equally valuable and often analytical subjects in the arts and social sciences? Yes, if your answer to our education woes is moving toward S.T.E.M.

The problem with S.T.E.M. is that the focus is to narrow and it sidelines students who have a genuine interest and natural proclivity in arts, literature, and social sciences. Besides, the very best education is a well-balanced education. That is a simple truth we can learn from examining classical education models.

S.T.E.M. threatens to throw out the baby with the bath water. We need well educated students who can contribute at all levels of society and culture, not just math and science.

This doesn't mean that we have to overlook the strong need for improvements in Science, Math, Engineering and Technology. Our failings in these areas must be addressed, but we must find a way to do so without sacrificing the arts and social sciences that also serve to improve and enrich our lives.

Jim Taylor, PhD, writing in Psychology Today, has recommended a broad based approach to education for which the acronym S.T.A.M.P.E.R. has been adopted. S.T.A.M.P.E.R. is an acronym broadens the scope of our education debate by including Science, Technology, Arts, Mathematics, Physical, Emotions, and Reason all in the educational equation.

Taylor is not out to reduce the focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. He promotes a program of education that encourages the arts and social sciences, which are the means by which we often apply what is learned in Science, Technology, and Math. These are also the courses of study which broaden our understanding of ourselves and other cultures. It is these disciplines which keep us civilized and foster the imagination to use our advances in math and science.

It is clear that changes must be made to our education system, but I encourage you, as you hear out the debate and participate in education at local levels that you take a long term view in understanding where an S.T.E.M. approach will take us vs. a S.T.A.M.P.E.R. approach to primary and secondary education.

Let's not leave behind the disciplines that civilize us and make us better people, that could result in the pursuit of competition at the expense of ethics, morality, and humanity.

Source:
Education: S.T.A.M.P.E.R. not S.T.E.M. For Public Education Reform