In the essay written by Yo Yo Ma, who is a well known cellist and songwriter, describes the need for integration of art into the school system. Yo Yo Ma describes this integration as STEAM in place of the well known STEM program. This essay was published to “The WorldPost” in 2014, and still has prominent suggestions to offer. The importance of this article is to depict the separation students to day have from emotions and empathy from work load and achievement. The STEM system constructs workers, not people. If the education system were to follow Yo Yo Ma’s STEAM system students would be able to be nurtured into and developed into well educated and informed adults. STEAM would show individuals how to deal with their emotions, and how to empathize with others. As an individual going into the STEM field, it is important for me to take liberal art classes in order to get a full grasp and be well versed on all bases. For instance, as a nurse I will be required to have the ability to empathize with my patients to better understand how to treat them. STEAM allows individuals to become more humanistic, and to further know how to treat others. STEAM encourages people to deal with their emotions, which is important in today’s society with the amount of violence occurring everyday. This essay shows valid arguments as to why arts should be more well incorporated into our education programs.
Glossing the text:
Bandwidth: “the emotional or mental capacity necessary to do or consider something” (Merriam Webster).
Lemmings: “Lemmings are the locusts of mammals, and they will strip a habitat bare” (Natalie Angier).
