As someone in a STEM career, we do a massive disservice to STEM majors by making their studies so goddamned silo’d.
I spent a couple of years undeclared before locking into STEM, and because of that I was able to enjoy a much more robust education, and I have to say that the difference is massive. And it really shows in the professional world.
So many otherwise (clearly, very) intelligent people who seem to lack basic understanding of political theory, history, economics, philosophy, etc. My field is lousy with them. They may be an expert in the technical field of xyz, but try carrying on a conversation about politics with them (and proceed to die inside).
The most useful and important things that I learned in college, by far, were: the ability to think critically, and recognize and identify fallacious reasoning; how to do proper research on a topic; and, the importance of being constantly aware of one’s own biases as much as possible.
All things that I never would have learned had I not spent ~2 years without a major (I’d also have much less student loan debt, but that’s a different discussion).
As someone in a STEM career, we do a massive disservice to STEM majors by making their studies so goddamned silo’d.
I spent a couple of years undeclared before locking into STEM, and because of that I was able to enjoy a much more robust education, and I have to say that the difference is massive. And it really shows in the professional world.
So many otherwise (clearly, very) intelligent people who seem to lack basic understanding of political theory, history, economics, philosophy, etc. My field is lousy with them. They may be an expert in the technical field of xyz, but try carrying on a conversation about politics with them (and proceed to die inside).
The most useful and important things that I learned in college, by far, were: the ability to think critically, and recognize and identify fallacious reasoning; how to do proper research on a topic; and, the importance of being constantly aware of one’s own biases as much as possible.
All things that I never would have learned had I not spent ~2 years without a major (I’d also have much less student loan debt, but that’s a different discussion).