SHIROFF: Humanities majors need not abandon STEM
Column: Policy Matters
A colleague, Richard Suta, wrote a great article last week on why we should not consider humanities degrees useless. I would recommend reading his article, but in short, the point is that humanities courses, especially in English, investigate important subjects, train students how to think critically and inquisitively interpret the world. I think Suta’s argument is worth expanding.
It is not merely STEM majors who need more humanities in their lives — humanities majors need some STEM, too. One without the other is suboptimal.
I have no doubt that the skills taught in humanities courses are anything but useless, as Suta argues. Even as an economics major, I have undoubtedly benefited from taking several humanities courses in Rutgers’ excellent religious studies, history and European studies departments.
I am less convinced, though, that since these courses are so beneficial, they are in and of themselves just as “useful” as a STEM degree. This is not to say that humanities degrees are useless — there are many professions for which a simple bachelor’s degree in a humanities field is sufficient, as well as many where it makes for excellent graduate school preparation (law school, for example). Instead, my view is simply that STEM and humanities majors are both suboptimal without interaction.
The case for more humanities courses in STEM curriculums is clear. I have personally come across too many STEM students who struggle to write clearly. As an economics major, which sits at the boundary of STEM and the social sciences, I have benefited tremendously from history courses both in and outside of the Department of Economics, as they have given me a wider perspective and trained critical thinking and analytical writing skills, classic humanities stuff.
STEM students have so much to gain by taking classes focused on improving these skills, and I am not convinced that Rutgers’ current core curriculum system gets the job done sufficiently.
The case for more STEM courses in the humanities is often misconstrued or neglected. The point is not that humanities departments are simply a total waste of time: This is unfortunate wherever and whenever this happens. Instead, the point is more that in this current world, like it or not, even a small dose of STEM skills is as beneficial for humanities majors as the humanities are for STEM majors.
This need not mean forcing history majors to complete up to Calculus 3. It can be much simple than that. For example, young adults seem to be increasingly lacking in basic and fundamental computer skills. An International Computer and Information Literacy study in 2018 found that just 2 percent of Generation Z had “digital native” level fluency with computers.
After growing up using either Google-everything, iPads, other technology or some combination of these three in the classroom, many students do not even understand how file systems work on a computer, or even what a file is!
A little exposure to Microsoft Office programs through a class or two would help prepare humanities majors with skills that employers can seemingly no longer take for granted.
Or, consider how easily misleading statistics spread about the pandemic. A simple understanding of Bayes’ theorem would make it clear why the vaccines’ 90 percent effectiveness is misleading. Many figured, “Okay, well if it is 90 percent effective, then it will only work on 9 out of 10 people,” but this is wrong.
A humanities major armed with basic probability/statistics knowledge would know that you need to also consider the probability of even contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to begin with, and then consider that the vaccine will protect against that already small probability 90 percent of the time.
The humanities are critical and deserve a spot in every major’s curriculum, STEM or not. But, the same should apply to STEM courses. One should be incomplete without the other, and a truly well-rounded curriculum should include both.
Taylor Shiroff is a School of Arts and Sciences senior majoring in economics and minoring in mathematics and political science. His column, "Policy Matters," runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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