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This is not good for STEM, and this is not good for women. If the attention and effort to encourage women, children, underrepresented minorities, etc. in STEM g
by karmel 11y ago
This is not good for STEM, and this is not good for women. If the attention and effort to encourage women, children, underrepresented minorities, etc. in STEM gets diverted into "STEAM," then there is a high likelihood that many groups will tout increased enrollment of women but funnel the women right into the A in STEAM. (Not necessarily on purpose, but for the same complicated reasons that women are underrepresented in STEM right now.) And then we're in the same place we started, but with less visibility into the problem.
- Animats 11y agoHm. That's a good point. Try making it to the members of Congress behind the "Congressional STEM to STEAM Caucus".[1] . "Current members of the caucus include Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI), Jared Polis (D-CO), David Cicilline (D-RI), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Gerald Connolly (D-VA), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Tim Ryan (D-OH), and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)." The Rhode Island School of Design seems to be the main force behind this. They're not really a design school, in the industrial design sense; they're a "fine arts" school. Teaching kids the rudiments of industrial design might be useful. It's not about self-expression; it's about what the user needs. [1] https://bonamici.house.gov/press-release/reps-bonamici-and-schock-announce-bipartisan-congressional-steam-caucus https://bonamici.house.gov/press-release/reps-bonamici-and-s...