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Message: [QUOTE="NHUConnfan, post: 2647562, member: 647"] There's a huge difference between UW-Stevens Point and UConn. UW-Stevens Point, as described by one of my Wisconsin friends, is one step away from a technical community college. Its existence is primarily to educate a workforce. UConn is a research and liberal arts institution. Who knows, UW-Stevens Point may still be able to keep these programs if Governor Walker didn't obliterate the university system's budget too. Again, I demonstrated in my post above that humanities majors actually do pretty well for themselves. And even more so to the point, STEM degrees are not necessarily a guarantee for a job. [URL='https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/education/edlife/stem-jobs-industry-careers.html']This NYT article[/URL] does a good job in showing how our emphasis on STEM has actually created some glut in certain areas of STEM. With our economy moving to a "knowledge" economy, any education should focus on building up soft skills in addition to technical knowledge. The humanities do an exceptional job in those soft skills - and to a point [URL='https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2015/07/29/liberal-arts-degree-tech/#48970621745d']where humanities majors have been sought out to help tech companies relate better to their customer base[/URL]. We do ourselves no favors in arguing for one area of study over the other when the arguments are built on false pretenses and lies. I'm all in favor of expanding STEM education, but I don't think it should come at the expense of humanities majors. Especially at an institution like UConn, which is primarily a liberal arts school, the focus should be on the holistic education with occasional career tracks (e.g. nursing, pharmacy, etc.). I wish UW-Stevens Point wasn't slashing their programs but for that particular institution, it's not as crazy as a proposition because its mission is far different than that of Wisconsin's flagship at Madison. But also, I don't think this is really an argument that's going to stand the test of time. In 15 years, microcredentials are going to replace the major as the main way to attend higher ed for career-track certifications. The major will still exist, but again, in this more holistic view of education. [/QUOTE]

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