Do Humanities Get the Coverage They Deserve? With stronger representation of STEM in schools, could “humanities students” miss out on a comprehensive education before college?
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WORDS by FRANCES CARLSON and DARE FITZPATRICK ART by MADELEINE NICKS
s our world becomes more dependent on technology and artificial intelligence, the future is increasingly geared towards STEM. Everyone seems to think that the solutions to the world’s problems lies in the hands of future engineers, computer scientists, or doctors. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 21% of bachelors degrees earned in the 2018-2019 school year were in STEM disciplines, while an article of Jill Barshay’s of The Hechinger Report said only 4% of college students who graduated in 2020 earned degrees in the humanities. “There are different trends that go into education throughout generations, and STEM is really big right now,” art instructor Dug Uyesaka said. These trends are not only reflected in students’ choices for college majors, but also in many high schools’ core curriculum. “I do feel there is an emphasis on STEM at Laguna. The school offers a significantly broader range of electives and AP courses that focus around math and the sciences,” sophomore Dylan Charney said. “The humanities, on the other hand, is relegated to just the visual and performing arts when it comes to electives, with even those being relatively limited with little forward progress to be made.” Laguna is somewhat known for being a STEM-focused school and is rated within the top two STEM-
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based schools in Santa Barbara. “There are huge investments being put into the STEM field, and more classes offered in the STEM because of those new classrooms being built and resources being added,” sophomore Lucy Wang said. There isn’t an inherent issue with Laguna’s focus on STEM classes, other than the fact that Laguna does not claim to be a solely STEM school.
“The skills learned in the humanities empower all students to tackle the crucial philosophical questions.” - Bojana Hill According to the school’s website, “Students receive an education tailored to maximize learning and foster an inquisitive mindset.” “We have more math classes than all the art classes combined here at Laguna,” said sophomore Lyla Bollag. “Yes, this is a college preparatory school, but it should be more inclusive towards the people whose aspirations are geared towards the art world rather than the science/ mathematical world.” The importance of the humanities in a high school education is relevant for all students, including those
who are STEM-inclined. “Since technologies are developing at such a rapid pace, more than ever before, we need to slow down our thinking and practice wisdom. The skills learned in the humanities empower all students to tackle the crucial philosophical questions,” English instructor Bojana Hill said. The problem is that students who want to explore the humanities don’t have as much of an opportunity to do so as those who are inclined to study STEM subjects. This is especially apparent when students build their schedules for the purpose of proving themselves to a college admissions board. As inequitable as they are, AP classes play an important role in getting into highly-selective colleges, especially at a college-preparatory schools like Laguna. Taking multiple rigorous classes in your field of interest and demonstrating success is a vital part of everyone’s application. While there is a fair number of humanities courses, many are electives. “Kids can do independent directed studies [within the art department], which means more proactiveness from the student, and I think that is great for working with a particular teacher in a particular field. However, this isn’t as ‘formal’ as other classes, and not as developed as, say, the STEM program. It would be good to have some other higher offerings,” Uyesaka said. So, students who are focused on impressing colleges might be less thefourthestate.net
