The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor, and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly. President John F. Kennedy
CNN host of “Global Public Square” (GPS) and columnist for The Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria challenges Americans to rethink the idea that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) is the ONLY answer to solve educational concerns in the United States. He’s not questioning the importance of such scientific studies, but he refuses to accept that they are the only worthwhile ones, that liberal arts and humanities must be discarded totally in the name of science.
American students traditionally have fallen about middle of the pack on international tests, especially in the STEM areas. Politicians, panicking over the scores, demand more rigorous studies in the science/math fields.
These international exams often test confidence levels also. American students always think that they test better than they do. Zakaria reports that William Bennett, President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Education, quipped 30 years ago, “This country is a lot better a teaching self-esteem than it is at teaching math.”
Zakaria responds, “It's a funny line, but there is actually something powerful in the plucky confidence of American students. It allows them to challenge their elders, start companies, persist when others think they are wrong and pick themselves up when they fail. Too much confidence runs the risk of self-delusion, but the trait is an essential ingredient for entrepreneurship.”
He notes that America has led the world in “economic dynamism, innovation and entrepreneurship” because of its broad general education that stimulates critical thinking and creativity. He quotes the late Steve Jobs. “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough - that it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.”
Zakaria cautions, “Americans should be careful before they try to mimic Asian educational systems, which are oriented around memorization and test-taking. I went through that kind of system. It has its strengths, but it's not conducive to thinking, problem solving or creativity. That's why most Asian countries, from Singapore to South Korea to India, are trying to add features of a liberal education to their systems.”
For generations, motivators have pointed out the value of curiosity and innovations. American author and educator Walter Isaacson, who has written numerous books about the great minds, says, ““Throughout his life, Albert Einstein would retain the intuition and the awe of a child. He never lost his sense of wonder at the magic of nature's phenomena-magnetic fields, gravity, inertia, acceleration, light beams-which grown-ups find so commonplace. He retained the ability to hold two thoughts in his mind simultaneously, to be puzzled when they conflicted, and to marvel when he could smell an underlying unity.”
Isaacson continues, “Leonardo da Vinci had such a playful curiosity. If you read his notebooks, you'll see he's curious about what the tongue of a woodpecker looks like, but also why the sky is blue, or how an emotion forms on somebody's lips. He understood the beauty of everything. I've admired Leonardo my whole life, both as a kid who loved engineering - he was one of the coolest engineers in history - and then as a college student, when I travelled to see his notebooks and paintings.”
Education should prepare our students to work not only to support themselves, but also to support this land of opportunity. Let us not trash liberal arts for STEM courses exclusively. Education should never be a question of either/or. Both are invaluable to the people in today’s workforce. Those whose talents tend toward the STEM subjects should be given every opportunity to expand their knowledge, but, they should take their electives in liberal arts. Likewise, those whose bent are toward the humanities, should study in their field of interest, with electives focused on STEM. We want to encourage, not shut the doors, on the innovative, creative, confident nature that is unique to Americans.
Isaacson’s advice? “Encourage children to ask why the sky is blue. Such curiosity can lead him beyond the stars into the heavens.”
Such seemingly simple questions can lead children to pursue the rigors of a STEM education or to stir their imaginations through liberal arts.
2019
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