“Liberal arts majors, rejoice! Technologists are learning they need more than STEM to create appealing products”
“The same skills involved in being a subtle reader of a text are involved in deeply understanding Chinese or Argentinian consumers of cars, soap or computers. They are hard skills of understanding other people, their practices and context.” Skills that employers badly want—critical thinking, clear communicating, complex problem solving—“are skills taught at the highest levels in the humanities.”
“Certainly doctors must understand disease, but medical education is overly skewed toward the biomedical sciences and minutiae about esoteric and rare disease processes. Doctors also need time to engage with the humanities, because they are the gateway to the human experience.”
“This study confirms the association between exposure to the humanities and both a higher level of students’ positive qualities and a lower level of adverse traits. These findings may carry implications for medical school recruitment and curriculum design. ‘[Science and humanities are] twin berries on one stem, grievous damage has been done to both in regarding [them]... in any other light than complemental’.”
“Scientific research needs the humanities, the president of a technical university says”
“But revolutionary innovation depends on more than robust financing. It also requires doctors, engineers and researchers to embrace the humanities. Indeed, the world’s biggest challenges — whether economic, environmental, technological or physical — demand critical thinking, empathy, cultural literacy and creativity. These skills are cultivated through an education that embraces the humanities.”
“How the Humanities Can Train Entrepreneurs”
“But revolutionary innovation depends on more than robust financing. It also requires doctors, engineers and researchers to embrace the humanities. Indeed, the world’s biggest challenges — whether economic, environmental, technological or physical — demand critical thinking, empathy, cultural literacy and creativity. These skills are cultivated through an education that embraces the humanities.”
“Liberal Arts in the Data Age”
“Hartley believes that this STEM-only mindset is all wrong. The main problem is that it encourages students to approach their education vocationally—to think just in terms of the jobs they’re preparing for. But the barriers to entry for technical roles are dropping. Many tasks that once required specialized training can now be done with simple tools and the internet…. If we want to prepare students to solve large-scale human problems, Hartley argues, we must push them to widen, not narrow, their education and interests.”
“The Humanities must engage global grand challenges."
“Humanities research is groundbreaking, life-changing… and ignored”
“The humanities also reveal additional grand challenges overlooked by science, engineering, and technology… The humanities must take the lead in forming this political consciousness and this eco-cultural awareness. The world needs new narratives capable of situating and conveying to a global audience the challenges we share. Such narratives could direct and motivate action, foster solidarity, and help us reimagine who, when, and where we are: earthbound, sharing a fragile planet and an uncertain future.”