Stop Looking Down on Non-Stem

features It's 2020: Stop Slating

Non-Stem Subjects

The STEM versus Humanities war is as old as time. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, and Humanities cover anything which refers to some form of human culture from law, religion or art.

It’s not often I bite back to annoying tweets, so when I say I replied to one a couple of days ago, I can assure you it was particularly annoying. The tweet suggested that the UK was in crisis because considerably more people took the Media Studies A-Level this year than French. I bit back, arguing that I took both and have used the skills I gained from my Media A-Level every day, but my French about twice.

I have since received a first-class degree in Journalism, Media and English Literature, to which many of my friends’ favourite joke is that I’m ‘unemployable’ because I did a ‘fake degree’. Ha ha. Good humour. Do their courses teach them to analyse the world around them? Can they pick up on fake news and governmental influence? I’m sure some of them do, but I’m also sure most don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way skating over the importance of numerical fluency or scientific knowledge, which are also two invaluable skills. All I’m saying is that we live in a world where every individual sector contributes to make the world flow as it does. Without the creativity of arts students there would be no entertainment. Without the pragmatism of science students there would be no progress and without the logic of law students, we would live in an uncivilised society.

Yesterday I heard that all postgraduate teaching bursaries have been wiped by our government for Arts, English and Humanities subjects, without consultation. Recently, the government’s ‘Fatima’ campaign, which encourages artists and performers to retrain emerged on social media and faced intense backlash. The captain was ‘Fatima’s next job should be in cyber (she just doesn’t know it yet)’ and to ‘Rethink. Reskill. Reboot.’ The ads were promptly scrapped after severe backlash and ironic memes made in response, but the principle will remain in the minds of those affected – that their job in the arts industry is not good enough for our government.

If lockdown has taught us anything, it’s surely the human need for the entertainment industry, the majority of which is run by English Literature, Film, Media and Music students. Behind everyone’s favourite Netflix show is a multiplicity of people who studied non-STEM subjects. Every science buff’s favourite comedy is the Big Bang Theory. I hate to stereotype, but this one is true. I’m afraid, STEM studiers, that you would not have this questionably unfunny show without the creatives behind the scenes, who went to the same institutions as you in order to gain knowledge in their chosen areas, to produce the shows you enjoy.

We live in a society obsessed with change. Maybe the problem is that the arts hark back to a simplicity of the past and tradition. Studying the arts doesn’t guarantee you a sure-fire career path. It is risky. Those who study Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths have more chance of entering the job market and earning more. If you study law, you’re likely to become a lawyer. If you study English, everyone assumes you want to be a teacher. What else could you possibly want to do?

Teaching seems to be tarnished with the same brush as humanities subjects. ‘If you can’t, teach.’ If you’re academically challenged, study the arts. This link between the arts and lack of academic attainment is dangerous and damaging. Was Picasso not clever? Mozart? Kahlo? Hemingway? Curie? According to The Conversation, playing an instrument has been proven to boost creativity, spatial-temporal ability, IQ scores, reading and language. Plus – it just makes a lot of people happy, which is something that should always be encouraged.

So, where do we go from here? We need to advocate and champion a well-rounded education system which values the arts on a parallel with STEM subjects. The recent announcements from the government concerning the little funding for the arts during coronavirus is disheartening and shows clearly where their priorities lie.

If people are passionate about their studies and careers in arts, encourage and support them. The notion that studying humanities is pointless feeds into a capitalist view that everyone should be fed straight into contributing to the economy in an office job or the like. Leave people be, you do you and don’t hate on something you don’t understand. PSA: humanities are bloody hard.

words by: Rebecca Astill art by: Canva design by: Maja Metera