Ohio kids’ education includes art, not just STEM
Jeff Kurtz lives in Newark and is a professor of communications at Dennison College.
It was hard to miss the excitement that erupted in Dispatch’s “Conversation” section on Sunday, August 14th.
A sober editorial authored by opinion editor Amelia Robinson, “Not Welcome in Ohio,” Silicon Heart by doctors Ayanna Howard, Frederick Bathory, and corporate leaders Chris Berry and Molly Cocour Boyle The pretentious editorials celebrating Rand at least managed to burn my eyes. .
Is Ohio on the cusp of a new era of intolerance and bigotry?
Is Buckeye really unwelcoming, even hostile? Will semiconductor technology save our country? Intel’s clout could really shape the state’s educational environment for generations to come Is not it?
What was actually implied in the “conversation” section was a very important question. What is Ohio education for?
Tech commentators believe Intel and its resources promise a new golden age. Bertley likened Intel’s investment in STEM education to the launch of Sputnik. Berry and Cocour his Boyle pleaded if our state’s youth learn computer science.
more:How to Submit a Guest Opinion Column to Columbus Dispatch
Fun discussions like this obscure what’s at stake. An opportunity to have a candid conversation about what Ohio education is really all about.
If Berry and Cocourt Boyle are to be believed, computer science will empower students to cultivate the land from which the Silicon Heartland will be born. Bertley and Howard are proving that they believe in technology and her STEM will ensure unprecedented economic growth. But what if STEM education alone isn’t enough?
Ohio is in Danger: What Do We Want to Be?
What kind of citizens are most likely to embody the nation’s best qualities?
Deep knowledge of computer science and field effect transistors cannot answer serious questions. It also fails to resolve troubling issues such as the polarization among us, the poignant infant mortality crisis, and the utter failure of our political system to model representative democracy.
more:We have to stop the alarming number of black baby deaths here | Opinion
STEM education must be deeply complemented by positive and engaging exposure to the humanities, arts and social sciences at all levels of schooling.
These disciplines are concerned with historically raising questions and seeking answers that can enable true human prosperity, and are more than mere worker bees that can drop code, they are responsible citizens. Provide students with the tools, resources, and ability to undertake candor.
As the nineteenth century drew to a close, abolitionist Frederick Douglass thought:Science now tells us when storms will hit the skies and when and where the violence will be felt most. Why can’t we yet know with the same certainty when a storm is in our moral skies, and how to avert its ravaging power?” Buckeye State can’t reach its full potential when solved with a few chips and two live wires.
We live in complex times, and the limitations of science force us to admit that some big questions are beyond the scope of the laboratory.
Writer and priest Tish Harrison Warren recently captured these. “How do we know what is true and what is wrong, right or wrong? Is there a God? What is your duty? How can you have joy? How can you live well? How can you be wise?”
Intel does not help us answer such questions, nor does it help us with STEM education. We should expect more and do better when it comes to educating our children.
more:Column: Why Humanities and Arts Lessons Matter
Bartley concluded by quoting a television character. I settle for playwrights. In “The Lost of Love Workers” Shakespeare was teased, “These terrestrial godfathers of the heavenly light/It names all the stars/No more benefit of their shining nights/More than those who walk by not knowing what they are.”
Ohio must rediscover its soul and decide what we want to be and how we get there. together. A semiconductor chip and his STEM alone won’t help. But maybe you can recommit to the nobility of books and art and music and politics.
Jeff Kurtz lives in Newark and is a professor of communications at Dennison College.
