Education secretary Nicky Morgan has made a speech suggesting young people should be encouraged to study STEM subjects in preference to humanities because the job prospects are better.
Last week’s poll saw an interesting division of opinion split almost equally between just under three quarters of respondents. Inching ahead by one percentage point was the view that STEM should not be promoted at the expense of of humanities as both are seen as important in a balanced society. Just behind on 25 per cent were those taking the view that STEM careers are more important to society than humanities-based jobs; and 22 per cent agreed that employment should not be presented as the sole purpose of education.
The remaining 27 per cent of the vote saw 13 per cent of respondents believing humanites are largely useless in the jobs market; eight per cent not agreeing with any of the options presented to them; and six per cent taking the view that there are just as many rewarding jobs in humanities as there are in STEM.
What do you think? Let us know below.
Stem is the future, it can save many loved ones life . So stuff shake spear where the sun don’t shine!!!
As an engineer I believe education should cover the basics of the broad range.
Here some “highlights” from my school days: We had lessons on Saturday. Started school at age 6 or 7. First grade: 1 hour nap after lunch. Cooked lunch for everyone (not free, not luxurious; nutritious, but not for profit). Gardening from grade 1 to 4.
From grade 1 to grade 10: Language, Math, Music, Drawing, PE.
Grade 5 + 6: DIY. After grade 7 practical work in a nearby factory 4h every other week. The other week 4h introduction into business administration.
Biology from grade 5, including reproduction of mammals, including humans.
1 foreign language for everyone, a 2nd for those who were interested and able.
Left school at 16 to start apprenticeship.
Or, switched to highschool after grade 8.
At 18 either finished highschool or apprenticeship.
I picked ‘None of the above.’ Now, I really think Morgan is right, but the poll item too strongly expanded on his comment. I think his comment was fine for educating upcoming students of the job market. But, let them pick the job which matches their ability and interests. Essentially, let the market decide. (And, after all, isn’t mucking with the market one of the reasons that engineering is not as popular choice as it should be?)
Emmett
Congratulations to the new Minister: and a female at that!
(Sorry, I must not say that!)
We have had our next King regularly applaud technology, that nice Mr Cameron and several of his ministers at last recognise the same…and the ‘other’ lot were surely ‘formed’ (apart from the few champagne/chattering classes) primarily from those working in Engineering related industries (indeed the word itself is a give-away) the military have reluctantly made that same journey -recognising that all big-boys toys (the hot/fast rocks delivery systems) are Engineering and Applied Science based…presumably even the vicars recognise that their ‘Houses of..’ do not stand-up by themselves, whatever miracles might be possible…so what is standing in our way to achieve absolute power?
Other bloggers will surely know from my previous posts, my take on that question. Yes, we as Engineers (who we hope those we are suggesting follow us by taking ‘proper’ topics at school and University) make a pivotal contribution to the ascent of man…but there are still far too many who take for themselves large slices of the National cake but do little or none of the preparation or the baking. [Is that an analogy, or a simile or a metaphor -I’m so sorry I did not study the Arts when I was young: only when I was middle-aged. ] To be fair “the reasonable man behaving reasonably” -I did liken doing so to exploring a stately home I thought I knew well, finding a door I had never opened before, and entering a whole new ‘wing’ of the house -the Arts. [Now that is a simile?] I do believe learning about such did make me a better Engineer too.
Best
Mike B
Young people should be encouraged to pursue their own future, to follow their own dreams.
Should we only create Dr. Nos? Engineers with no conscience?
Is an architect rather an artist or an engineer?
If you ask me: dump religion in school and the names and battles of monarchs.
Make religion a hobby like football or cricket.
To develop a well-rounded individual you require both STEM and humanities. I would illustrate this with two of the humanities subjects in my own largely STEM secondary education.
When I attended a Scottish secondary school in the 1960s a command of the English language was considered so important that it was not possible to enter one of the old Scottish Universities without passing Higher English. If you entered the Glasgow University bursary competition, as I did, one of the obligatory papers required writing English essays. To do that you had to have developed the intellectual rigour of organising your thoughts under pressure and then presenting them clearly and lucidly. Ideally this was done with style and elegance, never with jargon and gobbledegook. Why should that matter? The answer was that it gave your writing – and you – authority. It matters naught how wonderful your STEM skills may be if you cannot express them to an audience.
My school streamed pupils by ability and allowed the top stream to study Latin as a treat. The most obvious advantage of a good Latin vocabulary is that Latin is a major source of English words, especially of the scientific and technical ones, and you can often understand the meaning of words you have never met before. More importantly for STEM students, Latin is a very structured language with information contained in the endings of the nouns and verbs. That makes it very precise and concise, but much less forgiving than English of careless use – rather like mathematics. Before you can translate into Latin you need to be able to analyse what the English really means. That makes it good background for computer programmers – and it enhances your ability to write clear English.
It is important that those engaged in science and technology are enthusiastic about their subject and have the wherewithal to understand it completely. Bored ‘career’ scientists and engineers are a liability.
Thus I consider it important that, following the essentials of stimulus during childhood, people choose the route which suits their abilities best. Let us hope, for the sake of humanity, that sufficient numbers meet the criteria for the STEM subjects.
Progression in engineering to the exclusion of all else is, the means to what end? I need to feed my human spirit with more than just engineering.
Fully agree with all the views on the need to ensure that young Engineers link their knowledge to their ability to express such. Dear Prof Stan Harvey at Coventry used to say: “we can teach our undergraduates to be the best, but what is the point if they cannot tell others how clever they are” We spent much time ensuring that presentation skills were developed. Something I have continued elsewhere.
Best
Mike B
Have been somewhat surprised that our illustrious ‘organ’ has not yet linked itself in some way to the present film about Alan Turing. In one of the reviews (clearly written by an Arts trained? meja person!) mention is made that -frustrated by having to deal with the military ‘system’ to get essential resources- the code-breakers wrote personally to Churchill, pointing out their needs. He, was totally supportive “Give these persons whatever they want and advise me when you have done so!”
Fellow bloggers might enjoy a short piece from a book, which describes a not-dissimilar situation involving a family member in 1944.
“I had, though I did not know it at the time, an uncle -one of my father’s brothers, the one who was closest to him in age and nature- also in Tunbridge Wells. But he is not at school. He is in the Army, the Artillery, a junior officer. I do not know yet what an officer is, but whatever it is, he’s one. He has a squad of soldiers at his command and a large gun. Indeed several large guns and a lot of lorries and limbers, whatever those are, and boxes of ammunition. And, he is here to shoot things down. Things that we see pass overhead going towards London. Things with fiery tails and a burbling erratic noise that shakes the sky. He was stationed near Tunbridge Wells, part of the defense against V1s, those rockets which Hitler believed would win the war for the Reich.
Uncle Charles is there with his guns and his men and his ammo, I heard some of them call it that, to try to shoot down those things. Whatever ‘shooting down’ means. I did not know what that meant then, but I do now.
Taking on the ‘system’ seems to run in our family. As his guns were close to London, Uncle Charles and his batteries had visits from very senior officers who came down in the evenings to ‘see how they were doing and improve their morale’-whatever that is. Inevitably these high-ranking visitors would interfere with the firing of Uncle Charles’ guns. He and his junior officer colleagues were very concerned that they were missing some of the rockets they might have hit because of these Colonel Blimps! Notwithstanding the by-then quite sophisticated tracking and prediction systems in place to aim the guns, the battery had discovered that, whatever the instruments said, waiting to fire until a ‘doodle-bug’ passed a particular branch of a tree on an adjoining hill, gave regular success. The big-wigs did not seem to know this.
Uncle Charles drew the short straw and was encouraged by his fellow junior officers to write directly to Mr Churchill, the Prime Minister, pointing out the problem. He copied his letter to his CO. That’s an army acronym for Commanding Officer. The army has lots of them. That’s acronyms and Commanding Officers. As you may already be aware yourself, those promoted above their capabilities do not take kindly to those below in the pecking order pointing out the error of their ways: particularly to the very summit. Uncle Charles was arrested and had to attend a court-martial. I did not know what that was then but I do now. That is until a letter arrived at the battery from Mr Churchill himself. It said. ‘There will be only one person in charge of any activity: and that person, whatever their rank, shall be the person closest to the task, with the knowledge and ability to succeed. Action this day.’
Sound familiar? It ought to, as it is the basis of most modern management thinking. In fact the army got its own back, after the war when Uncle Charles might have been de-mobbed at an earlier more suitable time, in view of his qualifications. They sent him to India to help deal with the trouble resulting from Independence and subsequent partition. He was there for years.
I think STEM should not be promoted at the expense of humanities; both are important in a balanced societ.