In class earlier this week, we had a lively discussion regarding the General Education (gen ed) requirements at Penn State and whether gen eds provide students with any benefits. Several people took both sides of the argument, arguing that gen eds hinder people from completely mastering the field they want to enter after college, while others argued that gen eds provide a holistic education to students, and they make them more well-rounded in their knowledge. My personal belief is that gen eds are valuable in making students more competent citizens, and they are an indispensable part of a proper college education. No matter what major one pursues or which career path one decides to take, having a well-rounded education that includes elements of the arts & humanities, science, and math is vital.
A movement that supports this view and believes in the power of gen eds, including the arts and the humanities, is the STEAM initiative, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & humanities, and Math. It’s an expansion of STEM education, which solely emphasizes the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The STEM education initiative gained momentum after a 2012 study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the US 17th in education systems, falling behind Scandinavian and Asian countries. The accompanying report cited that more important than the amount of money invested in education is “the level of support for education within the surrounding culture,” and the society’s attitude toward education defined its level of education. Over the past several years, thanks to similar studies of global education systems, President Obama has emphasized the importance of STEM education in middle and high schools, stating that America’s students must “move from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math.” Subsequently, the Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM) was founded to create a national educational policy and strategy to increase STEM education.
However, those critical of the STEM movement point out its exclusion of fields such as art, literature, and the humanities as a whole. They believe that art is an essential aspect of science and engineering. For example, new and innovative products would be difficult to engineer without proper product design, and no scientist would be able to share his/her research without having an understanding of language arts/communication. Proponents of STEAM believe that the arts are a great learning tool and provide students with diverse learning opportunities. It teaches students to creatively express themselves and can motivate them to achieve greater success.
Extending the debate between STEM and STEAM education to the gen ed debate, I believe gen eds should be more emphasized in today’s college classrooms because they bridge the gap between STEM and STEAM. Although their effect is not obvious, the arts and humanities play an important role in almost every profession. For example, doctors can know all the biochemical pathways in the body and how each organ system functions, but if they cannot understand human emotion or empathize with their patients, they are useless. That is why classes in the performing arts and theatre are commonly recommended for pre-med students. Additionally, if those working in the financial sector or Wall Street aren’t culturally competent and don’t try to learn about other cultures, their financial endeavors will fail in today’s ever increasing global economy. Therefore, I believe General Education classes, although a pain to deal with, can teach students a multitude of diverse perspectives and skills.
Sources:
http://www.ibtimes.com/us-17th-global-education-ranking-finland-south-korea-claim-top-spots-901538
http://www.ed.gov/stem
Education was the topic for my class when we were sophomores, so we also had this particularly heated discussion. I share the same views I did then, and they’ve only strengthened in my 3+ years of higher education.
I am a huge proponent of STEAM. I’m an aerospace engineering major, so my life is pretty technical-heavy right now. But in high school, I was active on the debate team (once a nerd, always a nerd), and the rhetoric and writing skills I learned there helped me to a greater degree than I can describe. Language skills have undeniably made me a better engineer, because my work is essentially meaningless if I can’t communicate it in a meaningful way. Engineers almost never work independently, so verbal and written communication is a critical aspect of working on teams. I’m also an amateur artist. I’ve painted a mural on campus, have participated in arts festivals, and even my engineering notebook is interspersed with sketches and even a snippet of my favorite poetry. I call these creative exercises. They help me think organically, to break free of the restrictive linearity of the hardcore math and science that characterize my STEM education.
That being said, however, there is a difference between supporting well-roundedness and limiting my flexibility in my education. It’s a bit easier, I think, to justify technical gen eds for non-technical majors, as one simply can’t navigate through life effectively without at least a general competency with math and science. It’s fundamental in everything from paying bills to cooking. But math and science, at that level, are straightforward subjects. You either can add fractions, or you can’t–and that’s exactly what your basic math class is here to teach you. But for a technical major learning non-technical skills, I’m more inclined to believe that the initiative to pursue the extra “A” in STEAM should stay with the student. That’s because arts and humanities aren’t a rigid method like adding fractions. AHS skills are much more fluid. Gen eds can teach the tools, but it’s up to the student to use and master them, because to do so requires practice, persistence, and a special type of creative thinking (which makes them much harder, I think). And unless the student is of an accepting mindset, I don’t think it’s something we can teach as concretely as gen ed math and science.