When it comes to education, we’ve all heard about how the U.S. is falling behind China and other countries, especially in the so-called STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Both the federal and municipal governments are involved in costly STEM initiatives designed to improve the competitiveness of U.S. educational institutions. So far there appear to be many signs that the initiatives are working.
Yet I find myself wondering if the issues that underlie the failings of the U.S educational system are more fundamental than a lack of emphasis on the STEM disciplines. We can argue long and hard about the debilitating effects that the breakdown of social constructs have on student performance (as I believe they almost certainly do). But I think another issue with primary and secondary education, for which the STEM initiatives are themselves partly to blame, is that they have become too abstract. What good is calculus if you don’t understand how to balance a checkbook? Is quantum mechanics helpful when you’re trying to prepare dinner? What primary and secondary education really needs to convey is essential skills that we all use almost every day of our lives, something I would argue it fails, abysmally, to do. That’s why I think we need to incorporate a few mandatory courses into the mix.
Personal Finance and Accounting: An annual survey performed by the federal reserve indicates that teens answer questions about financial matters correctly slightly over 50% of the time. Maybe these results help explain why the average credit card debt is approaching $7,500 per household (though, thanks to the recession, that’s actually down a bit from the peak) and why college seniors graduate with an average of more than $4,000 in credit card debt. It might also help to explain why people, whether manipulated or just ignorant, found themselves so heavily overleveraged in the housing bust. A little mandatory financial education may go a long way toward solving these problems, and may also put the country on a more stable long-term economic path in the future.
Culinary Arts and Nutrition: Nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Many people can’t understand nutrition labels. Fast food consumption is growing rapidly. The percentage of meals cooked in the home is declining just as rapidly. With facts like those it’s no wonder that the U.S. faces an obesity epidemic, one for which the annual costs are approaching $300 billion per year. Call me crazy, but I’m betting that mandatory courses on nutrition and food preparation might help alleviate these startling trends. They might even pay for themselves by reducing future healthcare expenses.
Informal Logic: Informal logic, a.k.a. critical thinking, is an important tenet of democracy. Democracy relies on the masses to make reasoned, informed choices about the policies that its government pursues. When people are no longer able to reason critically, democracy devolves into kakistocracy – rule by the mob. I personally believe that an inability to reason critically is a significant reason for today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere. People simply do not take politicians to task for their rhetoric. As an example, consider Warren Buffett’s recent editorial in the New York Times in which he urges the government to stop coddling the rich with unreasonably favorable policies. What were the responses to his plea? Michele Bachmann said that Buffett should pay more in taxes if he wants to. Robert Holmes questions Buffett’s motives. Both of these arguments are likely to be successful with the right wing electorate, and both of them are based on an ad hominem logical fallacy. Both Bachmann and Holmes go after Buffett’s character, which of course has absolutely nothing to do with the validity of his argument. I would hope people would be smart enough to realize that. A course on informal logic would certainly help.
My point: let’s get back to the basics. We can worry about STEM once we halt our political and financial descent to ruin.
















