Particularly, Study 2 utilizes a sample of recent college graduates from a large Midwestern university, which is a heavily STEM-focused institution. It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success. One concern in the first study is that individuals' personality and ability level may confound with perception of interest fit. Toward a Balance of Interest Fit. Bellwether institutions such as Harvard have also noted the decline in the number of undergraduate humanities majors — the percentage fell there from about 24% in 1964 to 17% in 2012. Universities can stop paying mere lip service to interdisciplinary studies by arranging academic programs that allow students to take classes outside of their major, without major implications for graduation requirements or financial burdens. Governors have talked about or taken steps to defund college programs that don’t lead to jobs. doi: 10.1016/0001-8791(87)90046-7. Hum. Dir. Though an understandable sentiment, it is unfortunately not completely accurate. Table 2. RWA analysis (Supplementary Figure 3) suggested that interest fit accounts for 55, 24, 6, and 3% of the explained variance for work satisfaction, life satisfaction, financial satisfaction, and personal income, respectively. Accordingly, longitudinal research is needed to better understand how interest fit during college would affect future well-being outcomes. Rounds, J., and Su, R. (2014). They remain underrepresented in engineering Research with a more diverse sample can establish the generalizability of these results. Educ. The past ten years has seen dramatic shifts in the majors of college graduates. Parents and academic counselors encouraged STEM studies as they thought it increased the likelihood of Regression results and relative weight analysis predicting well-being outcomes (Study 1). J. Couns. Growth in Science and Engineering (SandE) Bachelor's Degrees by Gender Between 2009-2013. In one corner of this academic boxing ring stands STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This gives way to an even larger, generational dilemma. The premise of these theories is that individuals thrive and flourish in environments that are congruent with their interests, values, and abilities (Meir, 1989). While these ongoing and opposing discourses may be helpful, we propose that a unilateral approach from either perspective may limit our understanding of the value that STEM or the humanities provide to individuals and that it is important to consider these benefits in light of each individuals' unique set of interests. STEM Attrition: College Students’ Paths Into and Out of STEM Fields Statistical Analysis Report NOVEMBER 2013 Xianglei Chen RTI International Matthew Soldner Project Officer National Center for Education Statistics NCES 2014-001 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF The data are, however, available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission from Gallup. 37, 522–553. and Political Science hold that STEM degrees do not. It may be the case that individuals' interests may shift as they continue to work in a particular setting. RWA decomposes the predicted variance in a regression model into weights that indicate the relative contribution of the predictor variables. Psychol. She aims to do just that while staying true to the specific purpose of STEM education. Perspect. Such a proposal is in line with past career theories (e.g., Holland's theory of career choice), suggesting that the fit between the individual's values, interests, and abilities and his/her career is a major determinant of success and satisfaction (Campbell and Holland, 1972; Spokane et al., 2000; Nauta, 2010). I was recently part of a conversation at the Fields Institute at the University of Toronto which asked another question: “What does the A stand for in STEAM?” STEAM inserts arts into the acronym for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Multiple regression is appropriate for this study as it examines whether a set of independent variables significantly predicts the outcome of interest. In line with this research, our results point to the important role of the match between individuals' interests and their career to their future well-being. Humanities centers and institutes are key to improving the image of the humanities among the public and policy makers, writes Aaron R. Hanlon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). These results provide partial support for hypotheses 1 and 2. doi: 10.1037/a0018213, Nye, C. D., Su, R., Rounds, J., and Drasgow, F. (2012). These findings are in line with the data reporting that STEM careers offer a considerable salary premium over non-STEM jobs (BurningGlass, 2013). Nauta, M. M. (2010). What matters is what they learn, and how they learn, throughout the educational process. While we expect that major field to be a stronger predictor of personal income, we expect perception of interest fit to be more important with regard to other well-being outcomes (namely, work satisfaction, life satisfaction, and financial satisfaction). They are forced to exist in a world without individualism, dialogue or conflict. Psychol. The implications of radically favoring STEM and discouraging humanities is detrimental both to society and individual students. Such channeling, without attention to the perception of fit, may have a detrimental effect on an individual's well-being. doi: 10.1177/1745691612449021, Nye, C. D., Su, R., Rounds, J., and Drasgow, F. (2017). Budget of the U.S Government: Fiscal Year 2016. Today’s classrooms seldom foster true self-discovery, or encourage broad intellectual inquiry, or adequately prepare students for a world beyond pearly white campus gates. At the same time, I don’t believe we have any systematic way of imagining or hypothesizing other than the humanities.”. (1989). Accordingly, as a society, we need to encourage adolescents and youths to make career decision not solely from an economic perspective, but from a broader, and long-term, well-being perspective, so that they can thrive and flourish. 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Humanities majors encourage analysis, critical-thinking, and a vast knowledge of various topics. As society places bets on which discipline will deliver the knockout blow, an entire history of academia hangs in the balance. (2003). The nature and power of interests. The educational system has pushed scads of STEM programs, in elementary schools and even earlier. Hypothesis 2: Interest fit is a more important predictor of well-being outcomes (i.e., work satisfaction, life satisfaction, and financial satisfaction) than educational track. Society artificially designed the feud, meaning student must not let the STEM versus humanities fight influence their academic path. Introduction 2. Controlling for demographic factors, we examined whether interest fit can predict well-being outcomes above and beyond the major field (Table 1). 26, 179–201. Empirical studies also suggest that the congruence or fit between individuals' interests, and their environment not only relates to higher levels of performance, persistence, and career success (Terence and Robbins, 2006; Nye et al., 2012, 2017; Rounds and Su, 2014) but also results in better well-being outcomes for individuals (Assouline and Meir, 1987; Tsabari et al., 2005). Behav. eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'studybreaks_com-box-3','ezslot_1',118,'0','0']));“I don’t believe you can separate facts from values,” Frederick Turner, a literature professor at the University of Dallas, told C&EN. The Assessing the relationship between industry characteristics and organizational culture: how different can you be? Sci. Single-source and self-report nature of the data poses some limitations as it increases the possibility of common method variance. 7, 384–403. The development, evolution, and status of holland's theory of vocational personalities: reflections and future directions for counseling psychology. STEM is as much a humanist field as it is a scientific one and, in denying this, “STEM Only” advocates are inhibiting the very field they feign to promote. Janitors? This speaks to a broader point: the whole question of whether a student should choose Stem versus the humanities, or a vocational course versus a liberal arts degree, might be … Keywords and phrases: STEM, humanities, liberal arts, education, incentives, budget cuts, education majors iv Table of Contents 1. Meta-analysis of the relationship between congruence and well-being measures. “Within the sciences, one can learn about what happens when tiny particles collide, which can open the window into the universe,” Gerald Greenberg observed. Although these finding should be treated with caution for a couple of reasons. Those who dare to step out of the popular realm and pursue a major in the humanities may not be given the same respect compared to their peers pursuing STEM majors. 57, 137–187. Bus. While proponents of STEM majors rely heavily on the economic advantages of STEM degrees, we argue that such an emphasis on solely economic outcomes may omit or even mislead what is valued by individuals and societies (Diener and Seligman, 2004); therefore, a broader metrics of human well-being should be considered. Sci. Accordingly, such a person-centered approach suggests that the perception of fit between individuals' interests and their major or occupation is a more important indicator of future gains than the rewards promised by their major field of study. The school offers every mainstream STEM AP, including chemistry, physics, and biology, but doesn’t offer other humanities-based APs, such as psychology, human geography, seminar, and world history. doi: 10.1177/1069072704273165, Wrzesniewski, A., and Dutton, J. E. (2001). Furthermore, according to the US Department of Commerce’s Economics & Statistics Administration, women who work in STEM make 35 percent more than women in non-STEM occupations. Another liberal arts critic: North Carolina governor joins chorus of republicans critical of liberal arts. The same is true of STEM and humanities — with only mathematicians and engineers, who will record our history? Educ., 17 December 2019 The choice of majoring in STEM or humanities must be motivated by a fascination and intrigue in said subject — not from societal pressures and myths. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Although strict academic definitions seem to drastically differentiate STEM and humanities, the two are naturally associated with one another. J.K. Rowling, weaver of magical worlds, majored in classical studies and French. STEAM investigates the same concepts, but does this through inquiry and problem-based learning methods used in the creative process. Promoting interest and performance in high school science classes. First, the data used in this research is single-source and cross-sectional in nature, which limits our ability to draw causal conclusions. Our results suggest that while majoring in STEM fields may result in slightly higher levels of personal income, the perception of fit between individual's interests and his/her job also plays a significant role in personal income and a more important role in their well-being. College graduates self-reported their major field. Between 2009 and 2013, the percentage of students graduating with science and engineering degrees increased by 20% (Tizon, 2013), while the percentage of those graduating with degrees in the humanities decreased (Humanities Indicators, 2017). Humanities Gains at Community Colleges New data released by the academy about community colleges may be more encouraging to humanities professors. Studies also suggest that when students can relate course materials to their own lives, they have higher motivation and performance in class (Hulleman and Harackiewicz, 2009). History and use of relative importance indices in organizational research. And businesses have increasingly asked for workers with STEM or more general technical skills. Organ. 23, 98–103. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2005.11.003, Tizon, C. (2013). No significant interaction between interest fit and the major field was found. Even controlling for ability-related variables and personality, interest fit accounted for more variance in work satisfaction and life satisfaction, an equivalent amount of variance in financial satisfaction, and less variance in personal income. Accordingly, we argue that the person-centric perspective in major and occupational choice may be more important than a top-down directive of channeling students to STEM careers or conversely to careers in the humanities. Science 326, 1410–1412. Analysis of a national data set of college graduates (N = 8,151) shows that … doi: 10.1177/0963721414522812, Spokane, A. R., Meir, E. I., and Catalano, M. (2000). For example, an RS-RW of 50% means that the predictor accounts for 50% of the explained variance in the outcome. I know that depiction is too simplistic; but, it helps explain why people like Gale don’t view STEM experts as … More important than careers and job success, however, is the interest of students. Consistent with prior research (Campbell and Holland, 1972; Spokane et al., 2000; Nauta, 2010), these findings point to the importance of an individual's interests when making decisions about his or her major and future career. Career Assess. Available online at: http://nscresearchcenter.org/snapshotreport-degreeattainment3/#more-2111, Tonidandel, S., and LeBreton, J. M. (2015). doi: 10.5465/amr.2001.4378011, Keywords: STEM, humanities, interest fit, well-being, income, Citation: Vaziri H, Tay L, Parrigon S, Bradburn NM and Pawelski JO (2019) STEM or Humanities? J. Vocat. 4:143. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2019.00143. NB and JP provided critical feedback. Choose from hundreds of free courses or pay to earn a Course or Specialization Certificate. A rising call to promote STEM education and cut liberal arts funding. Regression results and relative weight analysis predicting well-being outcomes (Study 2). As with any study, our research has some limitations that should be considered. Providing equal or comparable funding and marketing for both STEM and humanities is an imperative component of fostering academic freedom and integration. My experience was that STEM majors took far more English / History / Sociology / etc. doi: 10.1038/s41562-017-0277-0, Johnson, J. W., and Lebreton, J. M. (2004). Furthermore, individuals may craft their jobs (either cognitively or behaviorally) so that it fits better with their interests (Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001). U.S. News. A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Vocational Interest-Based Job Fit, and Its Relationship to Job Satisfaction, Performance, and Turnover. Here, we report rescaled relative weights (RS-RW) which represent the weights as the percentage of explained variance. Available online at: http://shc.stanford.edu/why-do-humanities-matter, Terence, T. J. G., and Robbins, S. B. Humanities, those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture or with analytic and critical methods of inquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and of the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself. Facts & Figures The debate over the role of the humanities in higher education and American life reached new fervor this summer with the publication of several high profile reports and articles. Manage. Gender gaps in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) college majors receive considerable attention, and it is increasingly recognized that not all STEM majors are equal in terms of gender disparities ([ 1 ][1]–[ 4 ][2]). Our research also found that perception of fit is still the most important predictor of well-being outcomes, even after controlling for the individual's personality and ability. “Within the social sciences, one can learn about how resources are used by people and companies, which can lead to an understanding of how the economy might develop. Despite a rich, ancient history attesting to the intimately connected nature of these disciplines, society slowly began cleaving them from one another, often claiming practical superiority of STEM. The Stanford Humanities Center (2017) also asserts that “through exploration of the humanities, we learn how to think creatively and critically, to reason, and to ask questions.” In doing so, they also rely on recent studies indicating that the majority of hiring managers believe candidates' soft skills (e.g., communication skills, critical thinking, and intercultural skills), which are considered inherent in a humanities education at the highest level, are more important than their major (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2013) and as important as their technical skills (Bentley University, 2014). Below, we discuss the implications of our study along with its limitations. The emphasis on STEM programs and jobs has permeated politics, education, and the workforce system. 2, 353–376. The data that support the findings of this study are available from Gallup, but restrictions apply to their availability. Women are overrepresented, compared to their 49% share of the U.S. college-age population in 2012, among recipients of bachelor’s degrees in psychology, biological/agricultural sciences, and social sciences. Behav. doi: 10.1177/1094428104266510. Crafting a job: revising employees as active crafters of their work. Recent Legislation in Kentucky 4. Within the humanities, one can learn another language, which can open the window into a new culture, a new worldview.”. 14, 2017 ) available from Gallup are STEM occupations available support findings... The backdrop of the U.S Government: Fiscal Year 2016 are only temporary fixes on a scale. Industry characteristics and organizational culture: how different can you be relative weight analysis predicting well-being outcomes 10.1177/1745691612449021. And Lebreton, J., and I would clearly choose the middle option crafting Job... 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