Dear UConn: Stop Neglecting Humanities In Favor Of STEM | The Boneyard

Dear UConn: Stop Neglecting Humanities In Favor Of STEM

Drew

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Dear UConn, stop neglecting the humanities in favor of STEM.

The University of Connecticut does not care about non-STEM students.

Many UConn students in the humanities have had this suspicion, this feeling, that their friends in the STEM disciplines were better taken care of by the university. It’s like how kids know which sibling is the favorite but can never actually prove it because of tight-lipped parents.

Well, UConn president Susan Herbst just admitted she prefers Johnny to Sally because Johnny makes more money for the family and Sally sort of has her head in the clouds.

Here are Herbst’s words, which are more cautious, but still point to the same conclusion:

“The humanities and social sciences are tougher, it’s a much more difficult job market…I do think they [the humanities] do get less play than the STEM fields,” Herbst said. “STEM just takes a lot of money…I don’t expect the humanities…to bring in great external resources…We hope to invent – put revenue where it generates revenue.”
 
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It's so true. Herbst was always showing up at my friends STEM classes, either just sitting in or addressing the class going on about how great of a decision they made and how they were going to go and do UConn proud etc. etc. Their advisors were also much better than mine were.
 

MASSconn

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I don't blame Susan. She's right. Until our profile gets to the Michigan level it's solely "who do you know" for jobs as a liberal arts major. I was one of them two years ago and was lucky to be from a good area outside of Boston. School has ZERO pull.
 
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I don't blame Susan. She's right. Until our profile gets to the Michigan level it's solely "who do you know" for jobs as a liberal arts major. I was one of them two years ago and was lucky to be from a good area outside of Boston. School has ZERO pull.

I think this misses the point completely if you read the articles. It's not about promoting STEM, that's great. It's about how they treat everyone else at the school like a second class citizen.

For the record, I was not STEM or business and I found a job, in Connecticut, without knowing anyone at the company. So no, it's not just "who you know" though that does help a lot.
 

Drew

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I think this misses the point completely if you read the articles. It's not about promoting STEM, that's great. It's about how they treat everyone else at the school like a second class citizen.

For the record, I was not STEM or business and I found a job, in Connecticut, without knowing anyone at the company. So no, it's not just "who you know" though that does help a lot.

I don't think he means that in quite literally every circumstance of someone graduating with a non STEM major that the only way they can get a job is with connections. I think he is saying that it is immensely harder as a non-STEM student because the University does absolutely nothing from a career placement/career services perspective with these students and to that point he is 100% accurate.
 

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I don't think he means that in quite literally every circumstance of someone graduating with a non STEM major that the only way they can get a job is with connections. I think he is saying that it is immensely harder as a non-STEM student because the University does absolutely nothing from a career placement/career services perspective with these students and to that point he is 100% accurate.

Exactly
 

SubbaBub

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Dear humanities, stop eating side dishes as your dinner's main course.

Sincerely, a STEM major with a minor in Sociology.
 

Drew

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Dear humanities, stop eating side dishes as your dinner's main course.

Sincerely, a STEM major with a minor in Sociology.

This 100%. I'm all for people choosing to study whatever they want but in today's world if you aren't in business or STEM in 2016, what are you really setting yourself up for? The days where you go to college purely to think about philosophy and related topics are gone. Yes, it is worth taking certain courses on this material but if you are spending $20k+ a year on schooling and choose to major in one of these degrees in today's job climate/environment I just don't know what you are doing.
 
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The school is putting money into guaranteed jobs for their students. Can you blame them? Its all about that ranking and research funding. It is sad to say but it is not going to get much grant money for the philosophy department.
 
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The school is putting money into guaranteed jobs for their students. Can you blame them? Its all about that ranking and research funding. It is sad to say but it is not going to get much grant money for the philosophy department.

Again, someone else completely misses the point. It's not just about money. It's about how students are treated while attending.
 

pepband99

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Again, someone else completely misses the point. It's not just about money. It's about how students are treated while attending.

Does humanities need a safe zone, in that case?
 

SubbaBub

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Again, someone else completely misses the point. It's not just about money. It's about how students are treated while attending.

I don't get this either. Every university has schools of study they accel at more than others. The mission of UConn used to be agriculture because that was important to the population.

Then it became general education while private schools like Yale handled the heavy lifting, because the population needed a more educated workforce as farming declined.

Now, what a state that relies on a highly educated workforce in the innovation and information age is STEM. We now have a fairly robust state and community college system to focus on general education.

That's not to say humanities don't have a place in STEM, I firmly believe they do. How else do you humanize technology? But, as a premier curriculum of the University it's not forward thinking. Certainly not for a top university.
 
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Does humanities need a safe zone, in that case?

STEM, Business, Ag, and humanities students all pay the same tuition. They should have equal access to benefits and opportunities and they should be treated equally by the administration.
 

pepband99

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I don't think he means that in quite literally every circumstance of someone graduating with a non STEM major that the only way they can get a job is with connections. I think he is saying that it is immensely harder as a non-STEM student because the University does absolutely nothing from a career placement/career services perspective with these students and to that point he is 100% accurate.

This is tail wagging dog, IMHO. Perhaps the university is telling something that shouldn't be that hard to figure out - the job market for pure humanities majors is rough. Counciling/services is only applicable if there is an endgame.
 

SubbaBub

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STEM, Business, Ag, and humanities students all pay the same tuition. They should have equal access to benefits and opportunities and they should be treated equally by the administration.

Are you being locked put of the dining hall or something?

My school had schools of Humanities, Business, Science, Architecture, Engineering, and General Studies. Most students were in either science or engineering. If you were an Arch, Bus, HSS, or GS major, and I knew plenty of each, you knew you were a minority on campus. In fact, Bus, HSS, and GS were usually where the S&E washout's landed. They paid a lot for a diploma they could have received anywhere, but they still received a top level education and most leveraged their exposure to STEM into a pretty good job in their field.

So if you insist on being a teacher or a social worker, don't run away from STEM, it could be the difference maker when you are competing with others in your field.

My sociology exposure certainly gave me a leg up on the nerd salad that were my peers. I could actually talk to and understand other people with a little empathy thrown in.
 

Drew

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This is tail wagging dog, IMHO. Perhaps the university is telling something that shouldn't be that hard to figure out - the job market for pure humanities majors is rough. Counciling/services is only applicable if there is an endgame.

I agree with you I'm just telling you how I interpreted his post. I was in a STEM program at UConn and I still don't think my counseling was as good as it could/should have been. I'm at one of the largest banks in the world now and I'm happy with my role but I definitely didn't find my role because of the major and school I was in if that makes sense.
 
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My school had

So you didn't go to UConn. Got it. So you don't understand the climate.

FYI I graduated with a degree in Resource Economics & Public Policy, so while not STEM, I wasn't a philosophy major or any of the other easy targets people like to pick on with the humanities. The fact of the matter is that STEM has better classrooms/facilities, advisors, and access to resources than the rest of the school. When you're paying the same amount of money as everyone else you should be receiving the same or at least similar levels of return or the school should at least be attempting to do so. Herbst showing up to classrooms and blowing hot air up every STEM students butt while ignoring the rest of the school is a bad look.

Something no one ever talks about because it's taboo for some reason is that not everyone can graduate from a STEM program. People have different innate strengths and weaknesses and we should be steering people towards their strengths.
 
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So you didn't go to UConn. Got it. So you don't understand the climate.

FYI I graduated with a degree in Resource Economics & Public Policy, so while not STEM, I wasn't a philosophy major or any of the other easy targets people like to pick on with the humanities. The fact of the matter is that STEM has better classrooms/facilities, advisors, and access to resources than the rest of the school. When you're paying the same amount of money as everyone else you should be receiving the same or at least similar levels of return or the school should at least be attempting to do so. Herbst showing up to classrooms and blowing hot air up every STEM students butt while ignoring the rest of the school is a bad look.

Something no one ever talks about because it's taboo for some reason is that not everyone can graduate from a STEM program. People have different innate strengths and weaknesses and we should be steering people towards their strengths.

You're assuming that what you pay and your rate of return is all that matters. What about the individual and business taxpayers of the state that heavily subsidize your education and that of every student that attends UConn? Their rate of return is far greater by investing in STEM than by investing in other fields. Therefore, if the school, on behalf of the taxpayers, chooses to invest more in STEM fields (and thus those students studying in those field) they are acting in a fiduciarily responsible manner. Unlike primary and secondary education, which are considered rights, there's no inherent right to a post-secondary education provided by the state. It does so because an educated workforce is considered beneficial. If it also decides that certain fields are more beneficial than others, that is also appropriate. While hardly that only metric of value, it's no accident that STEM majors are aggressively recruited and make more upon graduation. They are in demand. Meeting private and public sector demand is a key component of any public educational system.
 
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You're assuming that what you pay and your rate of return is all that matters. What about the individual and business taxpayers of the state that heavily subsidize your education and that of every student that attends UConn? Their rate of return is far greater by investing in STEM than by investing in other fields. Therefore, if the school, on behalf of the taxpayers, chooses to invest more in STEM fields (and thus those students studying in those field) they are acting in a fiduciarily responsible manner. Unlike primary and secondary education, which are considered rights, there's no inherent right to a post-secondary education provided by the state. It does so because an educated workforce is considered beneficial. If it also decides that certain fields are more beneficial than others, that is also appropriate. While hardly that only metric of value, it's no accident that STEM majors are aggressively recruited and make more upon graduation. They are in demand. Meeting private and public sector demand is a key component of any public educational system.

All of that is fine, and I don't necessarily have an issue with allocating monetary resources to STEM. The issues really stem (ha) from the attitude of the administration towards non-STEM majors and things like career counseling and quality of advisement outside of the business program and STEM fields. I also have a problem with the way we've begun to look at education in this country. Again, there are people that cannot succeed in STEM fields but have many other gifts and ways to contribute to society. Treating them as second class students sends a bad message to your students and alumni.
 
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Students should be entitled to quality advising services within their major. In what way is that not happening? Are students not informed about graduation requirements and upcoming course schedules so they can meet requirements? Is the problem more regarding advice for post-graduation?

Career counseling for non-STEM fields is always a challenge. Unlike mechanical engineers, who know that their first job will probably have the words "mechanical engineer" in the title, many non-STEM fields don't have a logical resulting career (unless it's grad school and on to teaching the same subject at the post-secondary level). One humanities department from another university handed my daughter a beautiful document with a few dozen mini-case studies for their graduates. Unfortunately, there was almost no pattern. They proudly announced that "you can do almost anything with an degree." When pushed they finally admitted that very few of their students ever directly applied their degree and the most successful repeated path had been going to law school. However, with the implosion within the legal community that path wasn't nearly as attractive as it was 10 years ago so they were reticent to discuss it.

Placement assistance is even more of a problem. Unless it involves helping with resume construction, many schools offer limited value. Not many companies come to campus looking to recruit such fields so it's often, "once we're done with your resume it's up to you to distribute it in your area of choice." Even in fields like primary or secondary education where there is a logical career path there may be limited help because the jobs are so distributed the advice often sounds like "pick a geography and then apply to every school district within 30 miles."
 

Drew

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So you didn't go to UConn. Got it. So you don't understand the climate.

FYI I graduated with a degree in Resource Economics & Public Policy, so while not STEM, I wasn't a philosophy major or any of the other easy targets people like to pick on with the humanities. The fact of the matter is that STEM has better classrooms/facilities, advisors, and access to resources than the rest of the school. When you're paying the same amount of money as everyone else you should be receiving the same or at least similar levels of return or the school should at least be attempting to do so. Herbst showing up to classrooms and blowing hot air up every STEM students butt while ignoring the rest of the school is a bad look.

Something no one ever talks about because it's taboo for some reason is that not everyone can graduate from a STEM program. People have different innate strengths and weaknesses and we should be steering people towards their strengths.

this is actually a STEM degree. I know this because I graduated with a degree in Resource Economics as well
 
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Students should be entitled to quality advising services within their major. In what way is that not happening? Are students not informed about graduation requirements and upcoming course schedules so they can meet requirements? Is the problem more regarding advice for post-graduation?

I had 5 advisors in 4 years. 2 when I was in the exploratory program and 3 within my department. Most of my friends who were in CLAS or ARE had similar situations happen. Meeting with them was absolutely useless as they barely knew what classes you should take (multiple times I was told to take a class that wasn't available that semester), did not realize what classes would lead to specific concentrations, etc. None of my friends in STEM programs had this issue. At most they had 2 advisors throughout their undergrad and everything was carefully laid out and directed for them. Their advisors would tell them which teachers graded easier, would let them know when a class opened up that weren't previously available, etc.
 
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this is actually a STEM degree. I know this because I graduated with a degree in Resource Economics as well

I was told it is not STEM and that economics and resource economics do not get STEM funding. I'm quite certain it's classified as a social science even though you get a Bachelors of Science degree.
 

Drew

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I was told it is not STEM and that economics and resource economics do not get STEM funding. I'm quite certain it's classified as a social science even though you get a Bachelors of Science degree.

After researching I guess you are right. "Agriculture and Natural Resources" is STEM but "Resource Economics" is not.

STEM at UConn
 

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