STEM, Liberal Arts, and the 21st Century Leader

As a liberal arts university, Georgetown is committed to the formation of our undergraduate students in philosophy, theology, literature, art, classical studies, and related fields. We value critical thinking and writing skills. These will forever be a cornerstone of the undergraduate curriculum.

Studies of the outcomes of graduates from liberal arts schools show that by mid-career the knowledge and skills developed in such curricula serve them well. Even if we limit our attention to the criteria of income and occupation, graduates achieve more than their fair share of leadership positions. Liberal arts graduates find themselves contributing to all sectors of society.

We take pride in those findings, especially because the education and formation possible through those fields are not directly linked to job skills and occupational application.

Recent studies of those students who focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) seem to show an interesting parallel. We have all read and heard the arguments that with the advances of technology, 21st century citizens need to be literate with a set of concepts, tools, etc. The definitions of STEM skills are not uniformly stated but include complex problem solving, technology design, programming, deductive and inductive reasoning, mathematical reasoning, and number facility. Knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology are related to those skills.

Of the roughly 130 million workers in the US, about 20% require significant STEM knowledge and skill (Rothwell/O*NET 2011). But an interesting fact is that over half of those with a highest degree in an STEM field are employed in a non-STEM occupation. Just as graduates specializing in the humanities pursue a variety of degrees, so too do STEM graduates. The graphic below from the Census Bureau site illustrates the allocation of graduates to occupation by STEM classification (go to Where Do College Graduates Work? for an interactive version of the graphic). It seems clear that, just as a humanities or arts background can lead to mid-career leadership positions in a variety of sectors, so too can a STEM background lead to diverse outcomes.

So what do I make of all of this information? First, it’s clear that the level of knowledge related to STEM fields required for leadership in the 21st century will be greater than that required in the last century. But that could also be said of many non-STEM fields. Human knowledge is expanding at increasing rates. We all need to know much more, and crafting curricula to meet those needs is ever more complex. But a 21st century liberal arts graduate needs both the arts and the sciences.

Second, the relationship between one’s college major and one’s life work is complicated and attenuated by experiences. University studies need to provide students with all the basic knowledge and skills that allow them to maximize the benefit to themselves and others of their life experiences. The career choices and job opportunities will come to those with that background.

Third, the original foundation of the liberal arts education — including literature, languages, art, music, philosophy, history, mathematics, psychology, other social sciences, and science — still has deep relevance in a world of rapidly increasing technology.

The world needs leaders who can learn how newly created knowledge combines with existing knowledge to help solve important problems. Literacy in multiple domains is important for such combining, but facility with different methods of knowing, critiquing, and adapting is equally valuable. All the components of a liberal arts education can contribute to those skills, regardless in what occupational grouping the graduates find themselves.