STEM Up, Humanities Down in Florida

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

12/11/12

 

In October we reported that Florida Governor Rick Scott was mulling a plan to charge lower tuition rates for state university students pursuing degrees in science, tech, engineering and math. This would give students added incentive to choose a major with higher earning potential, potentially giving the state not only more tax revenue but also more workers in industries that are key to its economic growth.

 

It’s still not clear whether this is an ugly gimmick or the sign of a momentous turning point in higher ed, but either way, recent reports suggest that Florida is moving towards some form of the plan:

 

To nudge students toward job-friendly degrees, the governor’s task force on higher education suggested recently that university tuition rates be frozen for three years for majors in “strategic areas,” which would vary depending on supply and demand. An undergraduate student would pay less for a degree in engineering or biotechnology — whose classes are among the most expensive for universities — than for a degree in history or psychology. State financing, which has dropped drastically in the past five years, would be expected to make up the tuition gap.

 

(Snip)

 

4. We’re ultimately troubled by the disrespect for the humanities implied in plans like this. Making it harder for low-income students to dedicate themselves to the study of the best that civilization has produced is not the direction that social policy ought to be taking us. But it should be taken as a sign for those who teach non-STEM subjects that we may need to rethink both how and what we teach, the better to rebuild a weakening public consensus that our disciplines are “worth it” from an economic development or any other point of view.