Excellent multidisciplinary/liberal arts education
Can one obtain an excellent multidisciplinary/liberal arts education without studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics?
Students have to be prepared for a long and prosperous career in any field they are aiming for. Therefore, two pillars are required. One is the ability to communicate and the other is deep knowledge in at least one subject. Avoiding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics destroys one pillar and limits the opportunities for the students.
But why has there been so much fear about science education?
Education in high schools plant roots in art appreciation, but science/mathematical appreciation is less common.
Vermeer, Rembrandt and many other great works can be studied at the Louvre. If you take your time, you will understand the stroke order, the choice of color, and the beauty of the work come to live. You might realize that you will not be able to paint a similar work, but you are amazed that someone has had this great vision and talent.
Mathematical appreciation is not different from art appreciation. Deriving an equation together with the students enables them to see the true beauty behind the idea. And that is the challenge, derive the equation but make the idea (the stroke order, the color) visible. They might realize that they will not become the great mathematician that solves unknown problems; however, they will understand that a mathematical equation is similar to a great art piece.
An example: If you follow linear programming, you are amazed about the beauty of this method. The simplex method is like a painting from van Gogh.
Science appreciation demands teachers that are able to spark a firework in the brain of the students.
Science appreciation results from the fact that our daily life is impossible without science.
Consequently, connect the dots with real life examples.
An example:
Linear programming, the ability to find the smallest or biggest possible value under some constraints, is used in a typical optimization problem. In business this method helps to optimize solutions for politics, transportation scheduling, hospital stuffing, purchasing and many other problems. In biotechnology the same equation is used to optimize cell-factories, enabling the production of drugs, plastics, or any desired products.
One more example: Six Sigma is a technique for process improvement and surface response methods play a vital rule. Again, surface response methods are vital in bioprocessing.
We have mathematical equations that seem to be rather complex, but they are used every day to make complex decisions in business, natural science, archaeology, social science, and any other subject.
Can one get an excellent multidisciplinary/liberal arts education without studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics?
No, because if students are not equipped with the tools to succeed in their field of specialization, they will have no prosperous future.
Thus, as it is known since ancient times, a whole liberal arts education demands knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These fields should be connected with the other disciplines to achieve both science and art appreciation. Once this goal has been achieved, the student can choose a major concentration, as it is not possible to be a master of all traits.
