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The French Presidential Election and Globalization
by Gordon Kamer
College and Comedy
by Austin Sammons
The Brunswick School Review | Masthead
Culture | Finance | Politics
February 2024


Politics

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Liberal Arts in a STEM Dominated World

by Timothy Carter
Dec 09, 2015

In the last two years, Brunswick has renovated its upper school science lab and
created a massive fund, the STEM endowment, which has a million dollar
commitment with one hundred thousand dollars paid off this year. In the lower
school, there is the new Innovators’ club as well as Coding club, and the Middle
School has its award-winning Robotics club. Obviously, our school is moving
hastily, with the rest of the intellectual world, towards the fields of
Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics. Has the popular term “liberal arts
education,” often used to describe private schooling, become an anachronism?

On the perpetually changing spectrum of educational relevancy, a new trend has
appeared and affected the curriculum of universities, preparatory schools, and
other institutions. Of course, education has the greatest influence on the
future of society. Education, in today’s uber-competitive era of resumé-based
elitism, determines the paths of individuals as they strive for success in the
complicated job market. Therefore, if college and occupation selection are
becoming more influenced by a certain list of expertises over another list of
expertises or skills, then the first must lead to a more successful path in
society. Since the advent of computers and the internet, the discovery of DNA
and the structure of the atom, Einstein’s theory of relativity, the production
of the automobile, and countless other 20th century scientific breakthroughs,
the emergence of Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics education has been
promoted at the expense of liberal arts education. One may wonder, has the
emergence of STEM altered the occupational playing field?

The popular claim for increasing STEM significance in America’s schools has been
reiterated by the government and commercial industry ad nauseam. It is assumed
that with the technological trend in the commercial economy, our future
workforce must be first and foremost well-versed in the fields of STEM. Their
second point is that there is simply more demand for workers in STEM related
fields.

In a Forbes magazine article, contributor John Ebersole cites the work of Robert
Charette, an editor for the IEEE Spectrum magazine. Charette claims that
although popular belief is that STEM has not received enough attention in
education to sustain our technocentric economy, in fact, 4.3 million or more
workers of a 7.6 million STEM job workforce in 2010 did not have degrees in STEM
subjects, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In other words, Charette
believes that STEM jobs can indeed be attained without a degree, meaning that
our collegiate and K-12 curriculum does not have to be drastically changed to
compensate for our increasingly tech-reliant economy.

Michigan State University recently conducted a study that stated that childhood
participation in arts and crafts leads to more patents generated and businesses
launched in the STEM fields as an adult. In other words, creativity and the
balance of liberal arts and STEM at an early age aids workers in the STEM field
later in life. Another interesting facet of the study is that while interest in
STEM has increased, persistence rates have remained the same; 40% of students
that originally aim to major in a STEM field drop out and pursue a different
field within four or five years. This statistic shows that STEM majors have
remained notoriously difficult. Michigan State followed this study by
discovering that these dropout students, all in the Honors program, were from a
significantly less affluent background, where they may not have received the
same exposure to classical liberal arts. Michigan State concludes that an
increase in STEM significance in early childhood and high school may have no
effect on the students’ successes in the field if they are not exposed to
Liberal Arts subjects and more creative based courses.

To further the argument that success in the field of STEM is directly dependent
on exposure to more Liberal Arts topics, Inside Higher Ed conducted a survey of
263 hiring managers nationwide for Northeastern University. Inside Higher Ed
found that roughly 60% of these hiring decision-makers believed that oral and
written communication is still the most important skill for graduate students to
possess. A more respectable 85% believe that creative thinking is just as
important as critical thinking. In an even more radical survey, Inside Higher Ed
found that 83-87% of the American public and business leaders felt that the
graduate system must do a better job if America was to remain competitive in the
intellectual and occupational spectrum.

As the scholastic world realizes the importance for a two-headed, balanced
curriculum, unbiased towards one pole or the other, many speculate as to the
roles that workers with a humanities degree versus those with a STEM degree and
their future in the workforce. The Huffington Post states that STEM workers,
with even Barack Obama subsidizing and supporting the effort, are the future of
America’s standard in innovation and intellect. A study in 2012 illustrates that
America is far behind other nations in math and science, putting significant
pressure and focus on the future of our STEM workers. Meanwhile, Huffington
elaborates saying that, “To most, a degree in Humanities is a wasted piece of
paper and a job at a fast food chain.”

Luckily for those employed in the liberal arts field, the Huffington Post’s
statement is sarcastic. Elaina Provencio, the writer, continues to say that
humanities majors will be required to “run our schools, social services, and
political centers.” To further glorify the necessity for the continuance of
liberal arts education, Provencio states, “Engineers do not fit at the UN
table.” However, the blunt harshness of her first statement must be alarming to
those with interest in arts education. After all, an intellectual field that is
mocked and subordinate to another will obviously decrease in desirability.

Outspoken political figures arguing for the decline of the humanities'
significance and necessary uptake in technological focus have been various
Governors and individual state officials as well as President Obama himself.
Florida Governor Rick Scott was asked, “Is it vital for the state to have more
anthropologists?” He responded, “I don’t think so.”

The core identity, or trademark of American intellect and innovation has been,
in the past, in fields of entrepreneurship, finance, and government. Since the
establishment of democracy, America has set the standard for political
excellence. Another patriotic cliché, but valid nonetheless, is that capitalism
has been the most successful method of generating wealth in all of human
history. The overarching similarity between these ideas is that they have been
fostered by an education in liberal arts.

But a lack of patriotism is not the fundamental problem with the recent shift
away from humanities. One cannot deny the importance of technology and science;
however, solving crucial societal and political problems have been queried and
attempted by history’s greatest thinkers, and they are truly the key to the
success of human beings. Until the Humanities can provide us with the answers to
these age-old philosophical problems of human nature, STEM cannot take the
forefront of our intellectual devotion.

However, as displayed by the recent studies of Michigan State and Inside Higher
Ed, it is the combination of these polar opposites of academia that allows
humans to achieve and manifest the miracle of their intellect. For now, those of
us concerned with marveling at human intelligence, a unique characteristic in
the Animal Kingdom, shall continue to bicker over the pinnacle of our knowledge.
It is obvious that in our era of extraordinary technological evolution, STEM
deserves significant focus, but it is paramount that we do not lose the
fundamentals of the humanities which allow us to express creativity in the other
sect of problem solving. An unlikely figure provides an elegant and exemplary
resolution to end this argument:

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough - that it’s technology
married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the
result that makes our hearts sing.” - Steve Jobs

... read more
Staff
Gordon Kamer '18
Editor-in-Chief
Diego Jasson '18
Managing Editor
Oliver Nusbaum '18
Creative Director
Timothy Carter '18
Senior Editor
Timmy Kenny '18
Senior Editor
Henry Ellison '18
Production Editor
see full staff
The Meaning of Freedom, Perverted by the Gun Industry
by Jonathan Wiener of the Young Democrats Club
Gun Control
Surveillance
Colin Kaepernick
Courage to Act
College
The Controversially Conservative Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly died earlier this year. She was a staunch conservative who
nearly single handedly defeated the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution,
which would have guaranteed equal rights to women.

by Sadie Smith
Brexit and Lessons in Globalism
The Brexiteers made their decision based on emotion rather than logic. Still,
the remain campaign and globalists in general have a lot to learn about pitching
their ideas to the general public.

by Diego Jasson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About The Brunswick School Review is the opinion magazine for Brunswick School.
Founded in 1902, Brunswick is an independent, college preparatory day school in
Greenwich, Conn., providing character-based education for boys in
Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12. The Review was founded in 2015 and published
its first issue in December of that year, the first of three in 2015/16. The
Review focuses on opinion pieces and out-of-school topics, differing from the
Brunswick Chronicle, which reports basic news and in-school conversation. The
Review publishes online as well as in a magazine format. The magazines are
distributed in the Brunswick Upper School and are free. For further inquiries,
contact review@brunswickschool.org.
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Despite countless warning signs, our law enforcement agencies have been unable
to stop acts of lone wolf terrorism in the US. It's time we start upping our
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discourse, and others still may say that it was our national unity; no: the
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the remain campaign and globalists in general have a lot to learn about pitching
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The Brunswick School Review review@brunswickschool.org



Results of the Review Election Poll
We conducted a poll of 186 Brunswick students the day before the election. What
does a group of educated, wealthy, white kids in CT have to say?

By The Editors



Domestic Surveillance in the Age of Homegrown Terror
Despite countless warning signs, our law enforcement agencies have been unable
to stop acts of lone wolf terrorism in the US. It's time we start upping our
surveillance apparatus.

By Timothy Carter



The Uber Effect
Over the past few years, we've all been witnesses to the great effects of what's
known as the sharing economy. How radical are its benefits?

By Henry Ellison



David and Goliath: The Fall of the Two Party System
Some may say the greatest casualty of this election season was intelligent
discourse, and others still may say that it was our national unity; no: the
greatest casualty of this election was our great two party system.

By Diego Jasson



Brexit and Lessons in Globalism
The Brexiteers made their decision based on emotion rather than logic. Still,
the remain campaign and globalists in general have a lot to learn about pitching
their ideas to the general public.

By Diego Jasson



College and Comedy
Hollywood would have you believe that college is one extended trip to Miami on
spring break. The reality is, however, more grim, and it's at the center of
America's most widely glossed over epidemics.

By Austin Sammons



The Controversially Conservative Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly died earlier this year. She was a staunch conservative who
nearly single handedly defeated the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution,
which would have guaranteed equal rights to women.

By Sadie Smith



In Your Heart You Know He's Right; In Your Guts You Know He's Nuts
How does the American party system move on from this election? Donald Trump
perhaps hasn't made the change himself, but what defines the Republican and
Democratic parties is not the same as it was in 2012.

By Gordon Kamer



The Meaning of Freedom, Perverted by the Gun Industry
How many more lives have to be lost before our elected representatives stop
kowtowing to the NRA and other associations of murder? These are preventable
tragedies.

By Jonathan Wiener of the Young Democrats Club



The Election's Effect on the Markets
The ups and downs of the election cycle have produced some interesting effects
on the stock market. It's not often that Wall Street cares more about what comes
out of Donald Trump's mouth than Janet Yellen's.

By Kamil Salame