The value of the STEM system (science, technology, engineering, and math) is steering the education world in a new and positive direction, although some may believe otherwise. In Lloyd Bentsen’s article, “the United States educational system will continue to fail our children,” he talks about how he disagrees with Zakaria, another writer stating his views on the STEM system. Bentsen believes the STEM system will benefit America. In Scott Gerber’s article, “How Liberal Arts Colleges Are Failing America,” he talks about how people can correlate their majors into entrepreneurship. Lastly, in Fareed Zakaria’s article, “Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous,” he shares his belief that our obsession with STEM is just a way to overlook …show more content…
Bentsen goes on to say, “If Fareed Zakaria has his way, the United States education system will continue to fail our children.” With Zakaria having opposite views, Bentsen can’t help but to support what he believes. He believes that with the lack of people in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields, that people need to start focusing more on the STEM system. Although, people, like Zakaria, have created a new acronym called STEAM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Creating a focus on STEM education is important because the demand for jobs are in the STEM fields, not liberal art and history. As time moves on, more jobs continue to open for people with STEM degrees. Bentsen feels strongly about the STEM system and wants people to stop considering if STEM or STEAM is better, but to start thriving in STEM education. After reading Bentsen’s article, I can’t agree more. People need to realize that it is not the Renaissance period anymore. Art and history are not as important anymore. This country lives, thrives, and grows in technology, math, science, and engineering. Since this country, and the world, thrives in STEM occupations, many jobs are available to people with a STEM degree. If people do not begin to grow in STEM degrees and jobs, then this country will no longer be the top
In this essay that Ken Saxon writes, he talks about the liberal arts approach to college. He goes back and gives examples from his own life and how his college and after college careers played out. He is attempting to reach out to college students and high school students who are about to go to college. His purpose is to get more students to take a liberal arts approach to college. I plan to break down Saxon’s essay and see if he has anything that is helpful for me, as I get ready for college in the next year.
In Sanford J. Ungar’s article, The New Liberal Arts, he mainly talks about how hard and difficult it is for people to achieve a Liberal Arts Degree. Ungar mostly uses Logos and Ethos, and lists seven common misperception about liberal arts education. Then he precedes to explain why they are not so. Ungar is the President of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the author of “Fresh Blood: The New American Immigrants” and “Africa: The People and Politics of an Emerging Continent.”
In his article “Lost in America,” Douglas McGray highlights the isolationism of the American educational system Through his article, McGray expresses his concerns about the lack of focus of the American education system on the learning of foreign culture. The article was issued by Foreign Policy magazine in 2006. McGray’s target audiences are the ones that can make changes in the educational curriculum, which signifies that his intended audience includes American legislators involved in American curriculum policies. McGray, who is co-creator and editor-in-chief of Pop-Up Magazine claims that the American education has an isolationist curriculum.
All Americans want their future generations to be well educated—at least, all Americans should. When it comes to the topic of education, critics attack it by claiming that there are issues with how our American students are being taught. Some believe that education is too focused in an argumentative culture and that environment narrows our perspective, while some argue that the issue is in the commercialization of our educational system. Collectively, educational value is destroyed. Authors Benjamin Barber, Deborah Tannen, and Gregory Mantsios all agree that our educational system is flawed.
People go to college to get a good paying job, have job security, and get a degree. Well at least that’s what it should be about. That’s what Charles Murray believes in his essay “Are Too Many People Going to College.” Murray counters the argument of Sanford Ungar who believes colleges should have a more liberal approach towards its classes and have students actually learn a broad range of real life skills instead of just going into a career just because it pays well. In Ungar’s essay he explains the misperception that Americans have on obtaining a liberal-arts degree and how they believe it doesn’t translate well to the real world.
David Foster Wallace: Kenyon Commencement Speech Attending college is commonly seen as a time of life for learning how to think; David Foster Wallace disagrees in his Kenyon commencement speech. Although Wallace acknowledges that a typical commencement speech consists of uplifting messages about the human value of a liberal arts education, he instead expresses what a liberal arts education means to him. Rather than a liberal arts education teaching students how to think for themselves—which is now common belief—Wallace instead expresses that a liberal arts education teaches students to exercise control over how and what to think. To clarify, he explains, “it means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and
Alfred Lubrano the author of “the shock of Education: How college Corrupts” explains the differences and difficulties of what students can go through while they are in college. Lubrano says that when a student arrives at college, they lose their connection to their families. This is due to the extreme workload put on the student by the professors they don’t have the time to really chat with their parents like they used to when they lived at home. Also if there is an enormous distance gap where the students go to college and where their parents live it may create that sense like they don’t know each other anymore. I agree do with Alfred that college students change once they go to college they start grow apart from their families.
Following his ideas, he lists multiple misperceptions about a liberal arts education. His first misperception is that a “liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford” (657). He points out that because businesses and industries are looking for people with basic skills needed to perform a certain job, shortcuts are created. This shortcut or as he refers to it as a social experiment, will eventually lead to a dead end. This aspect of his article appeals to emotion and the fear most students have that they will end up in a job that is no longer needed.
Is college worth the money? This has been a question asked by millions of high school seniors, current college students, graduates, and parents across the United States. Many argue that it opens more doors over those who chose not to attend while others argue that we send too many students all while increasing the national student loan debt. Author Marty Nemko argues in his article, “We Send too Many Students to College,” that too many students are pushed to go to college. Nemko assumes that those reading his article are parents questioning if college is the right decision for their child.
In “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray offers his opinion on the number of students that pursue a B.A. He believes that two year or four year colleges are not needed for a majority of students who could instead pursue other life paths. He discusses the ability for the general knowledge needed to be learned in primary and secondary school, and for a lessened need for a “brick-and-mortar” institution the problems with the current secondary and higher educational issues including the lessened need to acquire a B.A. All members of society need certain skills in order to be productive members of society. They need to know general facts about the country they live in, general history, and general geography.
Mark Bauerlein, author of ‘The Dumbest Generation’, argues that today’s youth has had a decline in academics due to new technology in today’s economy. In retrospect, we’re growing up in a different time than the generation before us; the world and it’s products are different as to be expected, and with them we must learn new materials than they did. Today’s generation isn’t ‘dumb’, instead we’re adjusting to the times and retaining different knowledge than the generations before us. Many older generations always thinks that the generation after theirs is ‘dumber’, and think themselves to be the superior one.
Ungar in his work The New Liberal Arts highlights seven misconceptions of Liberal Arts degrees from the point of view as a Liberal Arts College President. The misconceptions he discusses range from an economic, social and political standpoint. Misconception number one states the argument that Liberal Arts degrees have become too expensive for most working class families, however Ungar argues these degrees make for a well-rounded individual, thus creating a long term investment in oneself that focuses on collaboration and oral and written communication. Next, Misconception two states fresh graduates sport a difficulty finding jobs, but this is not due specifically to their field of study. In fact, Ungar states that most employers look for a Liberal Arts degree in recent graduates for critical thinking and problem solving skills to be used in the workforce.
Everyone knows the chant from the introduction of the show Bill Nye the Science Guy. For some, Bill Nye is the reason they became interested in science in the first place to make a career out of it. Positive role models like Bill Nye can make a huge difference in a child’s interest in STEM education. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Sometimes Arts is included, changing the acronym to STEAM.
The researchers averred that the conceptualization of indicators or benchmarks of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) readiness may be regarded as valuable in educating students about the degree of knowledge and skills that they need to achieve to have a probable chance of advancement in first-year STEM courses. To perform this, three studies were conducted, given that a large percentage of STEM attrition occurs in the initial two years of college and that it is mainly the performance criteria in the first-year mathematics and sciences courses. Furthermore, Dougherty (2013) also pointed out the significance of college and career readiness and initially focused on the importance of early learning, particularly among students who do not acquire good early school training. Keeping up with those effort requires school administrators and educators to promote public awareness of the significance of early learning, the elements of a strong early learning program such as relevant curriculum that entails
After-school STEM programs provide children with these learning opportunities through either teaching methods or hands-on experience. Many of these STEM programs try to give children the best resources to use for their activities but these resources are not easy to obtain, so the children cannot recreate the activities they learned at the program at home. Because of this, parents may not be able to see if their child retained anything for the STEM program they enrolled them in, and cannot see a reason why they should keep their child in a program they are not retaining knowledge and skills in. STEMovative hopes to break down this barrier by using materials that children can easily find at their home or in a store and be easily recreated by themselves or with the help of a parent. This will allow the child to create the things they learn in our program and show their parents that they have