From what I’ve been able to understand, liberal arts majors are ruining the world. At least, so say the science majors, researchers and the government. After all, it is said that people who study things like English, history and psychology are a dime a dozen. Everyone’s all upset that no one wants to go into math and science. Liberal arts, according to what I am being told to believe, is just a waste of time…a waste of four + years of college and a buttload of money. They say there are no jobs for people who followed their interests/dreams. We liberal arts majors are just sitting around clogging up the arteries of American industry with our philosophical dialogues and short stories. Who needs us? Truth is, I don’t buy all of that argument. Sure, I may end up having to wait tables to pay the bills. Does that mean I stop writing and applying my college education to the rest of my life?
This DOES strike me as part of a greater question: why aren’t there more science majors and why does that scare the government? It scares the government, obviously, because, using simple logic: science majors= scientists= American global superiority. Think about it. We always have to be first. Every year scary statistics come out with that question “What will happen when CHINA has more advanced technology than us?”. For the most part, the government’s need for scientists is just to make sure American discoveries are being made; ensuring that we have the most advanced weapons/technology/medicine. So, propaganda.
The first is even harder to answer. We are a far cry from not glorifying science. More often than not, a scientist is more likely to be the star of a big budget action thriller (stopping the device he invented from blowing up, or convincing the government that the aliens WILL attack us) than an English professor. We value technology, we have whole TV shows devoted to teaching science (I’m looking at you, Bill Nye!). We romanticize the scientist as a heroic loner; daring to go up against his feeble minded society and unlcok the mysteries of nature.
So what went wrong? In one word, math. Let’s look at the average student’s life, from kindergarten to college. In elementary school, we are taught that science and math are two different subjects; not part of the same discipline. In fact, you are not likely to see ANY math involved in science education until at least middle school. In other words, you get to read all this cool stuff about space, the oceans and dinosaurs…but kids never really get a grasp on the math you need to actually STUDY them. So, as a result, we have a lot of kids who want to be scientists, but they have no idea how much they need math skills. And it’s not just their own doing. Math is by far the most hated of all subjects by Americans. Who hasn’t become frustrated with trying to do 100 variations of the same problem for homework?
Indeed, America doesn’t have a science problem: it has a math problem (pun intended). So, math is taught seperate from science. What else is the problem? Well, remember how everyone in your class was kind of OK with math up until around the fifth grade? That’s when you started seeing horrendous mutant problems like 2a+2b=xa + 7. Kids are just thrust into algebra and they don’t know why. It’s totally unrelated to what they’ve been learning since they’ve sarted. No one eased them into it; teachers are just sort of like “OK, math has letters now: deal with it”. Needless to say after this point, students start floundering and test scores go down. Of course, once algerba comes along, science teachers can actually start to use math in the classroom: the same shaky math that everyone is now learning to hate. BOOM science is now the Devil’s subject.
Of course, there are exceptions to this: some kids actually do well in math and science and go to college for it. Compared to kids who get say, English and history, this is a smaller percentage than the government would like. So why don’t the rest of us get math and by association, science? I’ve noticed something in my years as a failing math student: the math teachers and the math kids are very much alike. The kids who understand the math have the same kind of brain as the people who teach the math: logical, precise and dilligent. They write down all the steps, they know what they are doing and they have a kanck for logic. Obviously this is a generalization, but think of all your English teachers compared to your math teachers. Now think of liberal arts majors compared to math and science majors. See it? The problem is that people who are math-minded usually end up teaching for people who share their mindset. Math people teach for people like themselves in the same way history people teach for people like themselves (who can memorize well and find connections). It’s not on purpose; it’s just natural to think that everyone thinks like us. The challenge of the teacher is to be able to reach across the divide of minds and make the subject easier to understand for a wide variety of different brains.
The problem with math in particular is that because American students aren’t immersed in the math they use for the rest of their educational careers until six years in, they are at a disadvantage. It’s like having to relearn everything they thought they knew. This, combined with the teaching, is one of the fundamental reasons there aren’t more science majors. Once a student gets to high school, many are dissauaded from going into science, more because of the level of math involved than because it isn’t interesting.
American math education needs to be restructured if you want more science majors. Me, I love writing. Even if I don’t get my dream job, I’ll always do it. I think it’s a shame that we are told our whole lives to “follow our dreams” and then when college comes around, are told to major in something because it will get us a good job. Life is more about the job you get: it’s about serving God, fnding love, working passionatly, living freely and savoring every breath. I love my major…I’m not just here because I was good at it. That’s enough for me.
Vineyards of Devastation 