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Balance of STEM and Civics

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Education's ultimate goal is to prepare individuals for the workplace and participation in democracy.

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“A flourishing human life demands both vocational and civic purposes and successes,” (Allen 24).

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This vision conveys that education must provide both civic and vocational training to produce people who can make money through the workforce and impact the community in meaningful ways.

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Allen cites court precedents that determine that civic education is an obligation granted by the constitution.

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"'Students, in other words, are entitled to learn in public schools the “basic literacy, calculating, and verbal skills necessary to enable children to eventually function productively as civic participants capable of voting and serving on a jury,'" (Allen 8).

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Civic education is a right granted by the Constitution and prepares future citizens to contribute to their communities and strengthen democracy.

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Civic education is a right granted by the Constitution and prepares future citizens to contribute to their communities and strengthen democracy. Overview

American education is too focused on vocational studies. This mindset has converted school into a workforce pipeline.

“The dominant policy paradigm attends almost exclusively to education’s vocational purpose: the goal is to ensure that young people... can compete in a global economy,” (Allen 9).

This problem arose due to the Cold War, favoring STEM over civics.

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"The response was the National Defense Education Act, signed into law in 1958, which increased funding for science and math education, as well as vocational training," (Allen 9).

"Although its data were later debunked, A Nation at Risk is generally understood to have kicked off the era of school reform that currently shapes education discussion and policy...none concerning the humanities, social sciences, or civic education," (Allen 9-10).

"'More recently, in his 2016 State of the Union address, the president announced a Computer Science for All initiative that would make students "job-ready on day one,'" (Allen 10).

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In many areas, STEM magnet schools receive the largest amount of state funding. This causes humanities to receive less funding and eventually become nonexistent.

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"Hora said while both STEM, liberal arts and humanities programs are equally important, they are not equally funded. On the federal level, he said STEM programs receive more funded and there is no contest between them and humanities and liberal arts programs," (Saxena paragraph 5).

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Funding disparity between STEM, humanities programs impacts enrollment

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University of Wisconsin experts weighed in on the ways funding impacts development of programs in humanities and science, technology, engineering and math. Research has shown more employers are looking for people who can combine skills from both STEM and liberal arts fields, Matthew Hora, UW assistant professor of liberal arts and applied studies, said. He said…

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To correct the imbalance of civic and STEM education, it would first start with funding. There needs to be an enqual distribution of funding in order to ensure that both are being taught equally.

Also there can be a change is requirments. Some STEM courses could require certain civic lessons: ethics modules or interdisciplinary civic projects.

Schools can require an equal amount of credits in both STEM and Civics.

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The current education system is narrowed. For a long period of time, STEM courses have dominated education. This creates people who can contribute to the workforce and economy. People will be able to make more advancements in technology; however, they wouldn't know how to govern them. This narrow mindset has led people to consider education as a tool to aid in the workforce.

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Overview

Participatory readiness views education as a tool to help train for participation in society.

Instead of preparing individuals for jobs, schools should encourage collaboration, debate, and ethics. These are all principles of democracy.

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“An education focused not merely on technical skills, but also on participatory readiness provides a distinct and better way to promote equality through schooling,” (Allen 9).

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Education is a casual force behind democracy.

"Education fosters participation because it prepares people for democratic engagement. Reading, writing, and collaboration are, after all, the basic instruments of political action,” (Allen 11).

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Programs such as Facing History and Ourselves bring together literature, ethics, and civic discussion. Students are required to read about injustices in history and ethical debates, practicing civic participation.

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Our Mission

Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate.

See Our Mission in Action

Experience Facing History

We are Facing History & Ourselves

From one classroom in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1976, Facing History & Ourselves has become a global organization with a network of hundreds of thousands of middle and secondary school educators reaching millions of students worldwide.

We help educators prepare students to participate in civic life-using intellect, empathy, ethics, and choice to stand up to bigotry and hate in their own lives, communities, and schools.

Our Values

We stand up. We recognize injustice and speak up when we see it.

We create space for each other. We seek out and learn from diverse experiences and perspectives.

We act with empathy and kindness. We work to understand others and build a world where everyone feels they belong.

We listen first and listen actively. We consider listening a practice and skill, not just an activity.

We are curious. We ask big questions, create connections, and dig into the complexity of our actions and behaviors, past and present.

Our dedicated and diverse staff is committed to the intellectual, moral, and ethical development of young people around the world.

Where We Work

Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, our curriculum is taught in every US state and over 100 countries around the world. In addition, we have regional offices in Chicago, Cleveland, Memphis, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area. We also partner with entities in Canada and the United Kingdom and educational organizations around the world, including Colombia, France, Mexico, Northern Ireland, and South Africa.

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Our Mission Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate. See Our Mission in Action Experience Facing History From one classroom in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1976, Facing History & Ourselves has become a global organization with a network of hundreds of thousands of middle and secondary school educators reaching millions of students worldwide.

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Participatory readiness standards should be required across all courses.

English classes can assess civic rhetoric, while science courses can test ethical procedures and experimentations.

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Participatory readiness has the power to increase equality amongst students. Participatory readiness gives students the skills to collaborate and influence public decisions. Classrooms will be converted into mini areas that practice democracy, helping students practice citizenship.

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Builds civic reasoning

Understanding law, policy, and debate

Strengthens data literacy

Using STEM to understand social issues

Builds communication and collaboration

Essential for democracy and work

Increases ethical judgment

Making smart decisions that may impact humans

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STEM improved technology advancement and economic competitiveness.

Increased innovation

Bolstered employment readiness

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Weakened democratic participation because of neglect in civics.

Students had technical but less ethical skills

Reinforces economic inequality by valuing economic success.

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Ethical Reasoning

justice and fairness are tied in with decisions

Civic confidence

the belief that one's voice can influence decisions

Collaboration

learning to work with one another

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Overview

Humanities teach ethical imagination. They go over concepts like how to think and empathize with one another. They form emotional and moral foundations of civic identity.

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“The ideal civic agent carries out deliberation, prophetic frame-shifting, and fair fighting ethically and justly,” (Allen 11).

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“Attainment in the humanities and social sciences appears to correlate with increased engagement in politics,” (Allen 13).

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This 2020 study had found out that graduates in fields of humanities are 20% more likely to volunteer or engage in politics than STEM majors. This is a direct relationship between the impact that humanities holds on political participation.

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Critical Thinking

examining and thinking about other perspectives and arguments

Empathy

trying to understand one another and trying to see oneself in others' experiences

Reflection

evaluating one's actions and the consequences of an action

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Underfunding

Humanities may have limited pathways that direct towards vocational studies.

There is not that much integration between both, causing barriers.

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In order for democracy to survive, humanities courses must progress. This is because it fosters reflection, compassion, and awareness of actions. People are able to become better morally. This leads to an overall better society. Since STEM is dominating, the qualities of reflection, compassion, and awareness are important during a time of data-driven decision-making.

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Start young by integrating more civics courses into secondary schools. Classes like philosophy, rhetoric, and civics should be required.

For those in college, STEM majors should be required to take a minimum of 12 credits in humanities or ethics. This can ensure that technical skills gained from STEM classes are intertwined with morals.

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Theater of the Oppressed

uses performance to demonstrate social injustices.

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Created by Brazilian visionary, Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is a form of popular community-based education that uses theatre as a tool for transformation. Originally developed out of Boal's work with peasant and worker populations, it is now used all over the world for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, therapy, and government legislation. Inspired by the vision of Paulo Freire and his landmark treatise on education, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, T.O. invites critical thinking. It is about analyzing rather than accepting, questioning rather than giving answers. It is also about "acting" rather than just talking. In T.O., the audience is not made of spectators but "spect-actors". Through the evocative language of theatre, everyone is invited to share their opinion on the issues at hand. Boal's books have been translated into over 35 languages, and the work radiates from his centres in Rio de Janeiro and Paris as well as Vancouver, Toronto, England, India, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Holland, Italy, Korea, Burkina Faso, Puerto Rico, and many others. In the U.S., active centres can be found in New York, Omaha, Los Angeles, and Port Townsend, WA. It is also practised on a grassroots level by teachers, social workers, therapists, and activists all over the world.

(description via Mandala Center For Change)
Why the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO)?
Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is an aesthetic method created by Brazilian playwright Augusto Boal that stimulates critical observation and representation of reality, envisioning the production of consciousness and concrete actions.
In the last decades' Theater of the Oppressed games, exercises and techniques have become powerful tools for many practitioners across the world. It is a participatory art form that is meant and applied as an empowering and liberating practice that inspires individual and collective transformation.

NEWSPAPER THEATRE - This system of 12 techniques represents the first attempt that was made to create the Theatre of the Oppressed, by giving the audience the means of production rather than the finished artistic product. They are devised to help anyone to make a theatrical scene using a piece of news from a newspaper, or from any other written material, like reports of a political meeting, texts from the Bible, from the Constitution of a country, the Declaration of Human Rights, etc.

INVISIBLE THEATRE - To be a citizen does not mean merely to live in society, but to transform it. If I transform the clay into a statue, I become a Sculptor; if I transform the stones into a house, I become an architect; if I transform our society into something better for us all, I become a citizen. It is a direct intervention in society, on a precise theme of general interest, to provoke debate and to clarify the problem that must be solved. It shall never be violent since it aims to reveal the violence that exists in society, and not to reproduce it.

IMAGE-THEATRE - Words are emptinesses that fill the emptiness (vacuum) that exists between one human being and another. Words are lines that we carve in the sand, sounds that we sculpt in the air. We know the meaning of the word we pronounce because we fill it with our desires, ideas and feelings, but we don't know how that word is going to be heard by each listener. IMAGE THEATRE is a series of Techniques that allow people to communicate through Images and Spaces, and not through words alone.

FORUM-THEATRE - Music is the organization of sound in time; plastic arts, the organization of colours and lines in the space; theatre, the organization of human actions in time and space. Theatre is a representation and not a reproduction of social reality. FORUM-THEATRE presents a scene or a play that must necessarily show a situation of oppression that the Protagonist does not know how to fight against, and fails. The spect-actors are invited to replace this Protagonist, and act out - on stage and not from the audience - all possible solutions, ideas, strategies.

LEGISLATIVE THEATRE - Theater is not enough to change reality; we all agree. Legislative Theatre is the utilization of all forms of the Theatre of the Oppressed to transform the citizens' legitimate desires into Laws. After a normal Forum session, we create a space similar to a Chamber where laws are made, and we proceed to create a similar ritual of lawmaking, following the same official procedure of presenting Projects based on the spect-actors interventions, defending or refusing them, voting, etc. In the end, we collect the approved suggestions and try to put pressure upon the lawmakers to have those laws approved.
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004 (Via the International Theatre of the Oppressed Organisation)

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Created by Brazilian visionary, Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is a form of popular community-based education that uses theatre as a tool for transformation. Originally developed out of Boal's work with peasant and worker populations, it is now used all over the world for social and political activism, conflict resolution, community building, therapy, and government legislation.

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Overview

STEM is necessary for future human development. However, if there isn't an integration of civics, then advancements can harm society. A balanced education ensures that innovation serves for the betterment of humanity.

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“The pervasiveness of algorithms… and digital data—all these have profound political and civic implications,” (Allen 12).

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“Vocational training has historically reinforced economic and racial inequalities,” (Allen 18).

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If AI systems are biased, then technological advancements can do more harm than good, increasing injustice.

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Nouf Yaqoob Al-Saadi Researcher/ Research Department

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Combating Algorithmic Bias: Solutions to AI Development to Achieve Social Justice

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TRENDS Research & Advisory strives to present an insightful and informed view of global issues and challenges from a strategic perspective. Established in 2014 as an independent research center, TRENDS conducts specialized studies in the fields of international relations and political, economic and social sciences.

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Public Interest Technology University Network

Connects computer science with civics

Shows how students can gain experience with how to handle technology for the betterment of society.

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Increase in innovation and problem-solving capabilities

Collaboration amongst each other to tackle complex issues

Better scientific reasoning

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Ethical blindness

Innovation and advancements are made with little moral regard

Data misuse

Focus of productivity over reflection

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Require AI and data ethics as a course for all STEM majors. This can help reduce the chances of technological misuse.

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STEM's true potential will be unfolded through the integration of civics. When science is paired with social responsibility, it is able to innovate for the betterment of the people. This can ensure that progress benefits all people instead of certain people.

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Overview

When education is balanced between STEM and humanities, it fosters better growth for individuals. Both logic and morals are united, and when there is an imbalance, it weakens both, ultimately reducing democratic participation.

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“Education’s vocational and civic purposes are intertwined and aligned,” (Allen 20).

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“Employers championing STEM skills call for employees who read, write, speak, and collaborate effectively,” (Allen 20).

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The World Economic Forum lists skills such as reasoning and creativity as top employability skills.

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As technology continues to transform business practices, many of the skills that organizations say they value most highly are human-centered ones.

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Interdisciplinary thinking

mixing technical and ethical thinking

Creativity

innovation that occurs with morals and civics

Societal impact

understanding the impact that innovation and science can have on society and people.

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Current academics favor specialization

Increase in funding

Hard to change entire system, will take time

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Olin College

emphasizes human-centered engineering and integrates civics with STEM.

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Require projects that can integrate both civics with STEM. For example, Engineering for Democracy.

Offer more direct programs into STEM through humanities. For instance, dual-degree programs that connect ethics, technology, and public policy.

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The World Economic Forum lists skills such as reasoning and creativity as top employability skills. The integration of these two fields ensures that individuals are rational and humane. Education will produce those who question and will also protect democracy. When people who can create also think, they can create an everlasting effect on society. This is the act of civic participation, and integrating both fields will increase it.