Pragmatism, STEM, and a Miserable Society: Our Educational System and Government Policies need an Overhaul.

by | Aug 13, 2023 | Featured Articles, OP ED (Formerly Blog)

The Declaration of Independence promises “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” but an article published in the New York times reported that “America’s professional elite are wealthy, successful, and miserable”.

One of the key reasons for such a sorry situation is our excessive focus on pragmatism that consecrates unsustainable dispositions of material acquisitiveness, competition, selfishness, short sightedness, and just plain greed. The analytical approach, so fondly eulogized by the scientists and economists, while deepens our understanding of parts, fails to understand the continuum of the socio-economic fabric ignoring the delicate interdependence of social and ecological parameter. Its time we institute a radical course correction, shed some of the present connotations of material success, and embrace a profound reorientation to a holistic approach.

Our educational curriculum and the government policies are in desperate need of a revamp from overemphasis on STEM to a holistic  education that provides ecological understanding of the world enabling the students with the values necessary to become active and productive members of society.

 

In the nineteenth century, we saw the emergence of the philosophical movement known as pragmatism under the leaders like Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Pragmatism is based on the utility of not only objects, but also philosophical pursuits such as knowledge, language, concepts, meaning, belief etc. The founding fathers believed that all our efforts must be directed to real world problems and resolution thereof. In the ensuing decades, the philosophy of pragmatism gradually shaped the conceptual framework of society so much so that it has now become an integral part of our life.

Pragmatism plays a critical role in prioritization, efficiency, resilience, and responsiveness to the real-world problem solving. However, we have taken it beyond its reasonable place resulting in a myopic society that over emphasizes short-term gains without integrating clear ethical guidelines or moral framework. Right from the start, kids today are raised in a culture of hyper-competition that prioritizes achievement over all else. Pragmatism has become such an integral goal of today’s outcome-based education that the overemphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has become a norm. Most of the parents, educationists, institutions across the globe favor STEM over humanities with an argument that it’s the STEM students who meet the demands of the job market and are better equipped to solve all problems of the world. All government policies, fundings, and course curriculum favor STEM disproportionately.

In fiscal year 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF) had a budget of $8.84 billion, whereas the US National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) had a budget of $180 million – almost 500 times less. In terms of research, while NSF spent more than eighty percent of its budget on research, NEH spent only ten percent. Of the federal spending of about $170 billion on its research agencies, NEH’s research budget was 0.015% — which is roughly around zero. When the Congressional Research Service presented “Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2022” for fourteen research agencies, it didn’t even include NEH in the list. Clearly, neither education in humanities nor sponsoring research in this field is a priority of the government or our society.

Source: https://president.mla.hcommons.org/files/2022/08/Summer-NL-Graphic_revised-for-ed-ref.jpg

 

The focus on STEM and employment generating education system has indeed contributed towards the wealth of the nations. In the last two decades, world’s wealth has risen some $350 trillion. However, the enormous wealth creation has not really made the world any better or happier. The world today faces widespread deficits, indebtedness, and persistence of poverty despite progress even in the richest countries including the US. Clearly, as we define economic growth, we are monitoring wrong variables rooted in an outdated system of thought that requires radical revision. For example, the social costs like those of accidents, litigation, and healthcare are added as positive contributors to the Gross National Product (GNP) rather than being subtracted. There is a need to define progress to mean creation of real wealth rather than private or public gain won at the expense of social exploitation.

 

An implied objective of material success is to achieve happiness and satisfaction in life, yet America’s professional elite are miserable and frequently dissatisfied despite their sizable fortunes. This foundational challenge was addressed by the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the world’s longest study on happiness that tracked people up to three generations since 1938. Its results suggest that beyond a certain level our income has no correlation with happiness and satisfaction. “At the end of the day, life is really about our connections with others. It’s our relationships that keep us happy”, concluded the authors. The study highlights the stark contradiction between our goal to achieve happiness in life and the path to achieve this. We all want ourselves and our kids to be happy, yet we are pushing pragmatic approach of personal success whereas the happiness lies in the relationship.

 

While our society promotes a culture of hypercompetition and personal success,  the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the world’s longest study on happiness that tracked people up to three generations since 1938, suggest that ultimately, “it’s our relationships that keep us happy.”

 

The fragmentation espoused by the current pragmatic and reductionist social thinking, obsession with unqualified economic growth, and striking inability of most of us to adopt a socio-ecological perspective is turning humans literally into parasites eroding the nature, our very life source with an unabated destruction. Our imbalanced focus on pragmatism consecrates unsustainable dispositions of material acquisitiveness, competition, selfishness, short sightedness, and just plain greed. The analytical approach, so fondly eulogized by the scientists and economists, while deepens our understanding of parts, fails to understand the continuum of the socio-economic fabric ignoring the delicate interdependence of social and ecological parameter. Its time we institute a radical course correction, shed some of the present connotations of material success, and embrace a profound reorientation to a holistic approach.

Such a transformative change in the mindset needs to start at an early age when the mind is still impressionable. Top Institutions have taken definitive steps in that direction. Princeton University’s pre-read program introduces the students to larger moral issues and Bridge Year program allows them a year of community-engaged learning. We need to expand such endeavors and overhaul US education policy and school /college course curriculum by making humanities a mandatory part of course curriculum. This can lead to a balanced, holistic, and ecological understanding of the world to better prepare students for the complex unpredictable moral challenges they will face in their lives and careers. Such a balanced approach towards education will provide individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to become active and productive members of society.

During my childhood in India, Moral Education was the primary subject throughout the five years of my elementary schooling. That played a significant role in my balanced evolution as I later pursued my professional career in science and business.  “If science is a search in the darkness, then the humanities are a candle that shows us where we have been and the danger that lies ahead. It is technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that makes our hearts sing.” Said Apple CEO Tim Cook at MIT commencement speech.

America’s current defense budget is US$842 billion, four thousand seven hundred times more than the budget of US National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Our defense spending is nearly 40 percent of military expenditures by all countries around the world. We spend more on defense than the next 10 countries combined. We have shown the world what military might is; by spending a fraction of that  budget and resources, we can educate the world about what humanity is.

The world doesn’t need any more war, it needs a touch of humanity.

 

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