RandomPoster
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- May 22, 2017
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I've been reading some articles complaining about an over-emphasis on STEM in our educational system and here are a few quotes.
"Without people with a liberal arts background, the world is filled with narrow and technically trained workers, not complete citizens who think for themselves."
Why today’s workforce needs liberal arts educated critical thinkers - Smart Business Magazine
"All of this requires skills far beyond the offerings of a narrow STEM curriculum. Critical thinking is, in the end, the only way to protect American jobs.”
Why America’s Obsession with STEM Education Is Dangerous
These articles are disgusting and offensive, mostly because they are completely backwards. I needed much deeper logical reasoning ability and creativity to make it through even entry level STEM courses than I ever did in the rote general education and social "science" courses I took to pad my GPA.
As far as "critical thinking" goes, you are in more need of good judgement in STEM fields because ideas actually have to work in order to survive in those areas. In STEM, people are concerned more with facts and logic than strong opinions and cheap rhetoric. If your logic is flawed, you will not be able to solve the equation, your program will produce incorrect output, the machine you built will not work, etc. and you're not going to be able to argue your way out of it.
I believe most important of all is the exchange of ideas and how it contrasts between the liberal arts and STEM. In STEM, it has a tendency to come down to he who is the most logically correct, as opposed to the loudest and most aggressive. You are taught to remain calm, stay on topic, and stick to the facts. The same restraint is sometimes actually discouraged in the liberal arts.
One particular issue regarding the exchange of ideas I always found disconcerting is that I never heard the word "relevant" more times than in a course focused on critical thinking. Anything that goes counter to your precious little narrative is "irrelevant" to an argumentative person. It sort of reminds me of a little kid screaming "That doesn't matter!" whenever something is brought up that counters their argument. I've noticed something in real life as an adult. When de-bugging an application at work, it's amazing the vast number and wide range of facts that often turn out to be relevant once you sit down, shut up, and take it all in. I have never once complained that a bug report was too descriptive. There have been many times where the issue had nothing to do with what I or anyone else initially thought to be relevant.
The obsession with Critical Thinking has gotten so out of hand that they are now teaching Critical Thinking courses in High School. They have changed the Analytical Reading section of the SAT to Critical Reading, where you are taught to analyze the text from a standpoint of cheap rhetoric and leap to conclusions instead of sticking to what the author is actually saying in the most literal sense. You're taught to try and anticipate, as opposed to shutting up and listening. In college, there is a Critical Theory, Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, Critical Queer Theory, Critical Gender Theory, and on and on and on. It seems like every article you read about Critical X claims it is about going deeper than traditional surface level memorization blah, blah, blah.
If the liberal arts are so much better at turning you into a discerning critical thinker and weeding out bullshit than STEM, then why are the humanities and social sciences filled with so much more pseudointellectual BS than Mathematics and the hard Sciences? Hell, the fact that so many liberal arts majors have socialist beliefs should tell you two things. First, they are completely unwilling to admit that Communism/Socialism has been busted and second, they like to re-brand things and play cutesy word games, such as calling it "Democratic Socialism". Illegal aliens are referred to as "undocumented Americans that haven't broken any laws". Wearing certain clothing is "cultural appropriation". There are hundreds of genders with bizarre, fictitious names and anyone who disagrees is "ignorant of genetics". It all looks so accusatory, as if it's nothing more than yet another attempt to focus on divisive societal strife, pass moral judgement, and try to keep the opposition on the defensive while they themselves throw some weak bullshit out there simply to try and get the ball rolling. While they may be able to lay claim to their coveted title of being critical thinkers, those loudmouth, finger pointing, overly-emotional dimwits have no business lecturing anyone on being able to discern bullshit.
"Without people with a liberal arts background, the world is filled with narrow and technically trained workers, not complete citizens who think for themselves."
Why today’s workforce needs liberal arts educated critical thinkers - Smart Business Magazine
"All of this requires skills far beyond the offerings of a narrow STEM curriculum. Critical thinking is, in the end, the only way to protect American jobs.”
Why America’s Obsession with STEM Education Is Dangerous
These articles are disgusting and offensive, mostly because they are completely backwards. I needed much deeper logical reasoning ability and creativity to make it through even entry level STEM courses than I ever did in the rote general education and social "science" courses I took to pad my GPA.
As far as "critical thinking" goes, you are in more need of good judgement in STEM fields because ideas actually have to work in order to survive in those areas. In STEM, people are concerned more with facts and logic than strong opinions and cheap rhetoric. If your logic is flawed, you will not be able to solve the equation, your program will produce incorrect output, the machine you built will not work, etc. and you're not going to be able to argue your way out of it.
I believe most important of all is the exchange of ideas and how it contrasts between the liberal arts and STEM. In STEM, it has a tendency to come down to he who is the most logically correct, as opposed to the loudest and most aggressive. You are taught to remain calm, stay on topic, and stick to the facts. The same restraint is sometimes actually discouraged in the liberal arts.
One particular issue regarding the exchange of ideas I always found disconcerting is that I never heard the word "relevant" more times than in a course focused on critical thinking. Anything that goes counter to your precious little narrative is "irrelevant" to an argumentative person. It sort of reminds me of a little kid screaming "That doesn't matter!" whenever something is brought up that counters their argument. I've noticed something in real life as an adult. When de-bugging an application at work, it's amazing the vast number and wide range of facts that often turn out to be relevant once you sit down, shut up, and take it all in. I have never once complained that a bug report was too descriptive. There have been many times where the issue had nothing to do with what I or anyone else initially thought to be relevant.
The obsession with Critical Thinking has gotten so out of hand that they are now teaching Critical Thinking courses in High School. They have changed the Analytical Reading section of the SAT to Critical Reading, where you are taught to analyze the text from a standpoint of cheap rhetoric and leap to conclusions instead of sticking to what the author is actually saying in the most literal sense. You're taught to try and anticipate, as opposed to shutting up and listening. In college, there is a Critical Theory, Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, Critical Queer Theory, Critical Gender Theory, and on and on and on. It seems like every article you read about Critical X claims it is about going deeper than traditional surface level memorization blah, blah, blah.
If the liberal arts are so much better at turning you into a discerning critical thinker and weeding out bullshit than STEM, then why are the humanities and social sciences filled with so much more pseudointellectual BS than Mathematics and the hard Sciences? Hell, the fact that so many liberal arts majors have socialist beliefs should tell you two things. First, they are completely unwilling to admit that Communism/Socialism has been busted and second, they like to re-brand things and play cutesy word games, such as calling it "Democratic Socialism". Illegal aliens are referred to as "undocumented Americans that haven't broken any laws". Wearing certain clothing is "cultural appropriation". There are hundreds of genders with bizarre, fictitious names and anyone who disagrees is "ignorant of genetics". It all looks so accusatory, as if it's nothing more than yet another attempt to focus on divisive societal strife, pass moral judgement, and try to keep the opposition on the defensive while they themselves throw some weak bullshit out there simply to try and get the ball rolling. While they may be able to lay claim to their coveted title of being critical thinkers, those loudmouth, finger pointing, overly-emotional dimwits have no business lecturing anyone on being able to discern bullshit.
