STEM or Liberal Arts Education or Both?

Benjamin wants to code and works hard in High School moving up through the levels of math, performs well in his other classes, graduates with honors, attends a 24-week coding program at a state college and after a lot of work and huge expense, he becomes a web developer. A company hires him, he falls in love, gets married and begins a family and he is set for life. Or is he?

The educational push over the last couple of decades seems to be in the STEM subjects, such as coding, software design, etc. Students are paying the price to study in universities and colleges to learn the current technology. But, is there a problem with the overwhelming drive to excel in STEM? Should students be encouraged to focus mainly on science, technology, engineering, and math?

Sure, there are many important jobs that require knowledge in STEM such as computer programming, electrical, mechanical, or civil engineer, microbiologist, family practitioner, economist or urban planner, and industrial machinery mechanic to name a few. The cogs and gears in our world would simply stop without knowledge in STEM and the jobs that deal with it. 

However, the trend over the last 100 years or so has seen that artificial intelligence is increasingly getting better at replicating the jobs of humans. For some, AI is something to fear because it is taking over the jobs. For others, they know AI and automation are part of the normal course in advancing technologies. Take, for instance, the carriage drivers and typists that were replaced by automobiles and computers. Or the hand quilter being replaced by the machine quilter. And look at the advances in agricultural businesses. In years past the farmer would sell his apples to the packing companies, who would hire hundreds of seasonal employees and they would sort the apples into rankings or categories and then pack them accordingly. Now, the packers invest in efficient machinery that processes the product rapidly and more cost-effectively. 

Recently, my family and I took a tour of the Stemilt Packing company in Wenatchee, Washington while visiting my son. The massive, maybe 50,000 square foot warehouse boasted of the latest technology run by only five or ten workers. At one end, the apples were placed into water canals and moved along to wash, wax, and polish them. As they bobbed along they ran under a massive photo/x-ray machine that takes a photo image which determines if they have bad spots, worms, or other blemishes and directs those into different water canals for applesauce, pies, or discarding. The apples in excellent condition were then sorted into different sizes and packed accordingly for different retail sellers. I was amazed at the whole efficient process. Some would balk at the fact so many workers lost jobs due to the machinery. I can see their point, but only to a certain degree. Yes, AI is replacing jobs that can be replicable by robots, but that trend will always exist as long as there are humans and increased knowledge. 

Back to the question whether Benjamin is set for life or not, Roland Moore-Colyer’s internet article states, "Programming trends suggest that software development will undergo a radical change in the future: the combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and code generation technologies will improve in such a way that machines, instead of humans, will write most of their own code by 2040,” It appears that Benjamin ought to be prepared to look for another job in 20 years right about the time his children are leaving home, going to college or getting married. Or in other words, very expensive time of life. 

The solution, you ask? Well, it is an age-old one and is evident in the lives of all the great thinkers and doers. A liberal arts education is an education that supplies the real-life answers. A liberal arts education gives the person the ability to see the needs of a situation, be a leader, be a creator, an ability to do anything that is needed. Before the modern colleges cropped up everywhere, it was required of all students to go through four years of rigorous education in the liberal arts so they could become the best people they could. They were required to learn the histories and the lessons of history, they were required to understand their culture and the great ideas presented in the best literature and philosophy works. The goal of a liberal arts education is to make men free. 

It helps to understand the literal meaning of the two words, liberal, and arts. The word liberal is derived from the Latin word liber, which simply and literally means “tree bark”. The fact is that the classic great works were originally printed on processed tree bark to make scrolls and bound books. It was known then and has been forgotten today, that these classic works contained the liberating ideas that gained and maintained freedom for any man who knew them. The word art means a set of rules you follow to do that particular thing. For instance, the art of painting with oils means the rules you follow to paint with the oil paints. It’s that simple. In the case of the liberal arts, it means the rules you follow to maintain liberty.

What can a human do that artificial intelligence cannot do? Humans can find truths, create, see beauty, build trust, be empathetic, “get the joke” or understand humor, understand sadness or loss, act on intuition, learn to speak and write well, and use Agency to choose. A liberal arts education teaches all this and so much more. It should teach a man or woman to be virtuous and honest so that when they are out in the world, they can be the man or woman God created them to be. Where a professional education teaches how to code, a liberal arts education teaches what to code and what not to code. 

The Google company has determined they want to hire employees efficient in eight areas. Note that the last area is the only one that has anything to do with professional training. The eight things they are looking for in a new employee are whether they can coach others, communicate well, listen, make connections with others, possess insights, are supportive, have critical thinking skills, and finally have IT knowledge. Most companies are looking for people who have a strong work ethic, can reason things out in their minds, are flexible, are prepared for any event, and are okay with working and thinking in uncharted areas. An education in the liberal arts is worth its weight in gold when it comes to preparing a person to work in any environment. Do a Google search for famous people who have a liberal arts degree and you will be amazed. 

It is true artificial intelligence is taking over many jobs, but a liberal arts education can prepare you for any job that is needed. Benjamin would never have to worry about losing his job because he’d have the ability to take on any job. Most companies will train their employees in their specific task, but what is equally essential is to be an honest, amiable, employee with a can-do attitude. 

Check out a new liberal arts college in Salt Lake City, called Mount Liberty College. I am attending part-time and loving it. I had the founders come to speak to my humanities class this week and this article was a result of what I learned in their presentation. You will be amazed at what you will become as you attend Mount Liberty and participate in the amazing discussions. Check out their newest class open to high schoolers age 16 and up called Defense Against the Dark Arts. 

Economic Laws Make Abundance Possible

Owning land boosts the economy more than you think. Renters are not producing anything for themselves, but are using someone else’s property and paying them, that means that one of the two is increasing and the other is not, generally speaking. When looking at the Mayflower Company and Plymouth Colony, you know they struggled that first year, but did you know they literally struggled to stay alive for their first three years? The Indians helped them out, in fact, I would not be surprised if Squanto had not been a godsend to them. He knew the English language well after having been taken captive by a Spaniard and taken to Spain where he escaped and traveled to and lived in England before he came back to his native land. He knew the language, the English customs, the religion, the food, and everything one could know about the English culture. When he returned home, he discovered that the plague had killed off all his people, leaving him the only survivor of his tribe. 

In the first three years of living at Plymouth, the hardships multiplied: deaths, starvation, extreme temperatures, illnesses, Indian raids, etc. Although the government had been set up before they set foot on land, some of the principles were against a good economic system. They had settled on a common land approach and were headed for oblivion as all nations do when they embrace a communal, socialist plan. 

In the diary of William Bradford, we discover that land was held in common, crops were brought to a common storehouse and equally distributed to all. For the first two years, every person was required to work for everybody else, the community, rather than for themselves as individuals or family. Did William Bradford’s company live happily ever after in their socialist utopia? The answer is no. The Plymouth colony could not lift themselves out of the dire poverty and starvation. The “common property” approach took the lives of half the settlers. Governor Bradford recorded in his diary that everyone was happy to claim their share in the harvests and production, but production shrank. In other words, the produce that was brought into the storehouses continued to decrease. In this instance, there were shirkers and slackers who would show up late while the hard workers began to resent them. Contempt and resentment grew and production declined.  

The disincentives of the socialist scheme bred starvation, destitution, and conflict until Bradford altered the system and divided up the land and gave each family a one-acre plot to do with as they wished. The new owners produced whatever they desired and then kept or traded freely with others. The result was a tremendous increase in prosperity.

As our nation’s students are seeking learning from the various schools, public and private, they are susceptible to the ubiquitous notion that socialism is the answer to our problem of poverty. Where will they find other solutions to the problem? Almost nowhere in our present homogenous system will they find the right answers. Socialism is a trendy fascination right now. Sharing the wealth with everyone and having everything in common looks desirable, and yet it is one of the most dangerous ideas. We do not have to go far into our past to see that socialism created oblivion and devastation in Russia and China. No, the answer lies further in our past, in the story of William Bradford and later in the Founding Father’s writings. Can there be any doubt in anyone’s mind after studying the history of these United States that private property and laws protecting it have created the vast wealth?

I believe it was divine intervention that motivated them to adopted a very different system which was the birth of the most powerful economic system, a system I would call the abundance miracle. At this time of thanksgiving, I lift my prayer of deep gratitude to the Lord for private property and the knowledge of natural rights, natural laws that protect it, and also sincere gratitude for the profit motive that has made abundance possible.

Life Is Like a Tree

This essay is still under construction, read at your own risk:

As I was raking the leaves today I became overwhelmed with the number of leaves to clean up with 7 maple trees in our yard, 6 in the back and 1 huge Red Maple in front, the striking kind that makes everyone look. The kind that makes everyone wish they lived on that particular street in the fall. 

Our trees drop a mess in May, a mess in June and a huge mess in November. The tree in front must be a female tree because it produces little red flowers before any leaves begin to sprout. Looking up into the tree with the clear blue sky as the backdrop, you see clusters of tiny red berries and suddenly they burst into tiny red flowers, dropping as soon as the samaras begin to grow. Remember those things that children call ‘helicopters’ that fly out of the maple trees in late spring? Well, they are officially called the samaras and were super fun to play with as a child. Back to the messes. I spend a good couple of days raking up and sweeping the dead flower clusters in May and just when school lets out and our summer gets going, there is another big drop of helicopters (samaras) in June and another thorough sweeping is required. But be prepared for the fall when we have to fill twenty-plus big black bags with the dead leaves. And it is not a one day process. 

This year, in particular, the cold happened early on for a day or two and then it warmed up for a month. Once again, the front tree was spectacular. Friends and neighbors sent texts and emails, even photos of our tree complimenting how impressive and beautiful it was. Even perfect strangers talk about that incredible tree on 900 East and proudly I claim it and instantly I become famous. Okay, that is slight hyperbole, but seriously, the tree is magnificently conspicuous. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy the fiery show of my Red Maple this year as I was in another state with my oldest daughter and her family for a couple of weeks while she had her fifth baby and my seventh grandchild. However, like clockwork, I received texts and comments about my beautiful tree. When I arrived home, the tree was covered with almost all of its leaves still, but they had begun to turn from the flaming red to a reddish-brown indicating the leaves would soon drop. I waited to rake the few that had already fallen since others would soon join them and I could get more in one sitting, but the days were warm and the wind was absent causing the leaves to cling onto the branches. Hannah and I made our way outside to rake what had been there on the ground, thinking that soon the others would fall and we would bag them up before the cold and wind came. However grand the plan, there is always another Planner who knows more than we do. Nature whipped up a wind storm during the night last week and loosened the grip of most of our leaves and swept them into the yards of all my close neighbors. I woke with a dread that we had deliberately “shared” the work of gathering to all my dear friends. Ugh, would I need to go rake everyone’s yard? The dreaded mess in everyone’s yard overwhelmed me and I choked on it for a while until I wondered whether it was not my fault or not. I reasoned that I had done all that I could possibly do and that it was surely the work of Mother Nature. Everyone would understand, right? Besides, the wind continued to blow and so the leaves would continue to migrate into other yards more distant. Back and forth I went in my mind, but there has to come a time when you realize that you just cannot control things that you have no control over, therefore I decided I would pick up only the leaves on my property currently and let the rest of my neighbors deal with those that mother nature had so carelessly planted in their yards.

I figuratively rolled up my sleeves and began to rake what was left in my yard, driveway, and gutter. Dave came out to help and we raked, gathered, and bagged for at least two hours. Most of the leaves were in the back yard where 6 tall maple trees reside. It seemed as though we were not making much of a dent while the clocked ticked on. The weather app said that snow would come each day next week starting on Monday and today was Saturday. We estimated that a foot of snow would fall over a 6 day period. We had limited time before having to head into town for a reception and became conscious that we would not finish in time before the snow covered the rest. 

My mind had been pondering on the overwhelming messiness of the leaves, the wind, the work to clean up, the effort of being responsible owners, and all the emotion and reason that accompanies it. I compared all this to life and how life is messy too. And it matters a great deal if I deal with the mess in a responsible manner; cleaning up, fixing, bagging and disposing of the mess of mortality in a moral and ethical manner. 

I thought of a loved one who has intentionally left the faith of his childhood and dragged his children with him through the messy process of a faith crisis. His actions have pulled him away from everything he has held dear and he is left alone with himself and his buddies who support him. He has willfully and deliberately sought to influence any and all to join his crisis campaign in an attempt to justify and validate his actions and beliefs. For three years I have been watching the wind blow him and his children around. Each has lost the connection to their branches—their anchor against the storms—and are willfully living in a whirlwind of falsehoods, deceit, dishonesty, unfaithfulness, and deceptiveness. Just as the wind blew my leaves in all directions and into the yards of my neighbors, his actions have affected everyone around him in a tremendous way. His irresponsibility has blinded him to the mess and has enshrouded him with false comfort and well-being while his children are on the path of self-destruction.

How do you stop people from doing stupid things? How do you help them see what they are blind to? How do you talk to them? What could he have done differently to not have fallen into the trap of the Destroyer? What could I have done differently? My head is churning, my heart is burning, I go back and forth in my mind whether there is something I can do or not. There is not. These things are the “leaves that have blown into another’s yard” and are not mine to clean up. I can only clean myself up. I can only be responsible to make my life clean and pure. I can bag up the baggage and throw it away leaving only the best me; handing over my natural self and making my will God’s will. And in that manner, I will be divinely empowered to clean up any mess my life or the life of others produce. 

As C. S. Lewis says, 

‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.’ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity