A STEM is not a Flower

                It’s hard to go anywhere in academia these days without running across a concern for STEM education.  It makes it seem like science, technology, engineering and math are the only things that even count anymore in defining the outcomes of education.   Universities are whittling away at their undergraduate general education requirements and shrinking the departments in what we used to self-confidently call the ‘liberal arts.’  The University of Wisconsin at Stephens Point went so far as to propose eliminating them.  I think there are two reasons, at least, to pump the brakes on this rush to trim education to training in STEM disciplines.

                The first is simply pragmatic.  Although advisors and administrators are quick to smugly point out the employment potential of these programs, they overlook a very important variable.  The things that students are trained to do in STEM programs are precisely the jobs that will be lost in the economy when a mature version of AI is introduced.  My sense is that the merger of AI into technical fields is much closer than most people think.  When it gets here, it isn’t going to be a slow process of change.  The industrial revolution took centuries to mature, and the computer revolution took only decades.  AI will happen in years and months.  It is foolish and irresponsible to train people to do something that a computer can do better and faster.  It is only a matter of time before a computer will do it better and faster.

                Schools sell these programs because they are little more than corporations themselves.  The people who run them and who advise students have pretty much given up any pretense of being ‘educators.’  They are in business to shill for the latest fad in hiring, regardless of how that fad serves the long -range interests of their customers – I mean students.  Of course, people need to know more about the disciplines covered in STEM programs.  The lack of science literacy has been devastating to our environment and our democracy, but selling these programs as a career path is short sighted.

                The second reason goes to the heart of what it means to be educated.  Being educated is more than getting the right answer on a test or solving a structured problem someone else created. It’s nice, but it’s not an adequate proof of being educated.  The problems we all have to solve right now are unstructured and chaotic.  They don’t appear in text books, and they can’t be solved by technical expertise alone.   At the bottom of every important question or problem we face is a question of value and ethics.  In many cases the important question is not what can we do but what should we do.  Giving someone a job is nice, but it’s not the same thing as giving them a vision of the world.  A job doesn’t make them a better citizen, neighbor or partner.  A job isn’t the same thing as a conscience. 

                STEM education without a context of value and meaning is not only inadequate, it’s dangerous.  As the technology we develop becomes more powerful it also becomes more of a threat.  We can do more damage more quickly than ever before.  We have to have a space to think and discuss what the next phase of the world will become.  We are wired into instant torrents of information but have lost the ability to use what some people call ‘slow’ thinking, the ability to step back and evaluate the scope and rationale of our actions.  STEM education, as it’s currently constituted, isn’t designed to do those things.

                In case you missed it, we’re in a big mess right now.  Everything from democracy to sex to masculinity is up for grabs.  The old system of values and norms is fading fast – and that’s a good thing.  What happens next, however, is not going to be so easy to navigate.  If we’re not going to devolve into warring clans fighting over the last glass of water, we need vision – we need imagination.  We need an education that helps people cope with more than the operating system on their new phone.  If we mess this up, we can’t just ‘die,’ reboot it and start over.  We have information – we lack wisdom.  Before we shove the last Religion and Philosophy professor out the door and fill their office with more machines, we ought to stop for a second and ask ourselves what we want to become.