Imagine this.

There is this beautiful valley but you can’t get the best view. So you decide to climb up a ladder for a better look. Once you reach the top you can see the whole scenery, but there is something missing. You find yourself not fully taking in the landscape.

Now, to fully understand this idea you have to think of STEM as the ladder that helps you ascend up to the view, but without the humanities, it’s impossible to appreciate the true beauty of the world around us. 

We are in the digital age right now and all anyone can think about is data, charts, and the mechanics of things. However,  is what we should really be focused on human connections and interactions? Yes. Pursuing STEM classes and careers is important however without incorporating humanities into it, it stands incomplete.

In the last few decades, as a society, we are starting to favor STEM fields over humanities because STEM has a more distinct definition. For those of you who don’t know, STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. While humanities can include anything from philosophy, religion language, culture, literature, and history. Many think that gaining as much from humanities as you can from STEM is impossible. STEM is measurable. It’s respectable. But humanities can be so much more than just measurable because after all, you can’t put a number on everything.

Humanities can teach compassion and more about the world around us. Right now, more than ever, the human touch and authenticity is needed all over but especially in schools. Schools all across the U.S. offer various courses in comp sci, math, and robotics but tend to not have as many classes when it comes to philosophy and anthropology. Not giving students the opportunities to expose themselves to humanities leaves them ignorant. They leave high school with the mindset that STEM is their only option.

But the thing is that humanities can supply students with so much. Practicing the processes taught and used in humanities fields students will have a tighter grasp on various ways of questioning, analyzing, and critically-thinking. Humanities are a collection of experiences. Each person brings their own version to the table. There is no exact right or wrong answer. It isn’t all bout data but more about the perception of things that can benefit humanity in more ways than STEM can ever do. 

At the end of the day, humanities are lifelong studies. One day the digital era will be here, the next it won’t. But, our history, culture, language, and literature will never leave. So if we don’t start looking into them, we won’t have anything left.  

Furthermore, robots may have AI, but we must value our humanity.  Qualities like ethics and morality can never be replaced.  We’ve seen enough science fiction movies to be aware of mindlessly allowing technology and data to rule our lives. 

Let’s put the humanities back into STEM.