Should we stop funding Liberal Arts Education with public dollars?

Florida Governor Rick Scott, citing shrinking financial resources, supports a strategy that would showed preferred funding for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs (STEM). Governor Scott says, "If I’m going to take money from a citizen to put into education then I’m going to take that money to create jobs,” Scott said. “So I want that money to go to degrees where people can get jobs in this state."

The Governor is expected to include several different reforms aimed at Colleges and Universities across Florida when he submits his new budget next January. With more money being provided to the STEM majors, less funds will be available for Liberal Arts majors, plus some other "science" based fields of study such as Psychology and Anthropology. “Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists? I don’t think so.” says, Governor Scott. 

Now's probably a good time to mention that Governor Scott's daughter, Jordan Kandah, earned an Anthropology degree from William & Mary College. She did not work in the field, rather was a Special Education teacher before enrolling in a MBA program earlier this Fall. 


As fun as that sounds, its not really evidence that Scott's policy is hypocritical or would even be a bad one.

As I understand it, students would'nt be prevented from study Liberal Arts, they just wouldn't get as much public dollars via student grants and loans to do so. This wouldn't effect Scholarships or other private sources of tuition assistance.

I don't profess to know how the coffers for Florida higher education look at this moment. In general, with the shape of the economy, rising health care costs, unemployment's effect on the tax base, etc. it doesn't sound crazy to me to accept Scott's premise that there is less money to go around. The State is trying to direct its limited financial resources toward those fields of study that can lead to the highest paying jobs (i.e. produce the biggest financial payoff) for Florida.

The Governor is advocating for closer scrutiny for how the Public dollars are spent. That's not a bad thing.

As to the question of is it dangerous to have the Government start picking winning and losing Majors to back differently? Good question. Is there evidence that Florida is running short on STEM majors? Or the Country for that matter?

Some say yes....

Some say no...

I believe we absolutely need Liberal Arts majors to graduate and fill Society's needs for teachers, Psychologists and sure, Anthropologists. As income disparity worsens, the harshness of basic living is becoming more and more difficult. I say life is getting harder, not easier. As the world continues to shrink, the entire dynamic of how higher education, economics and our work-force interact is changing. Technology has replaced so many jobs in the labor pool, there aren't enough jobs to go around. Incomes are depressed, "savings" is hard to achieve when you have trouble paying your bills in the first place.

I believe we need better teachers, especially in the Journalism and English fields. Via the advance of the internet, more people are able to summon vast amounts of information on the subject of their choosing. The rub is, content from the internet, even from well known websites that advertise themselves as "THE place for News", or more "fair and balanced" than those other guys, isn't always accurate or impartial. Too often, people get their information...and develop subsequent opinions on an issue...from an agenda driven, biased news operation. Its difficult and time consuming to do research on topic, consider both sides viewpoints, fact check, etc. The more trained we are in reading, critical thought, etc. the better prepared we will, as a people, be able to cut through the noise and make decisions based on the facts of an issue.

We need smart people to help figure out our Country's future. I say we need both STEM people and Liberal Arts people taking their best collective whack at it.

It'll be a while before we can see the effect of Governor Scott's education reform, if it even survives through to the final budget. If it succeeds as designed, and unemployment spikes down in Florida, especially in the STEM fields, then the State will benefit in many ways. Will it justify the expected drop off in Liberal Arts education? Time will tell. At the point in time a shortage of available Liberal Arts degreed people is identified, the need would easily be filled by bringing in professionals from out of state. If its bad enough, perhaps a future Governor will adjust higher education funding once more.


Sources:

http://htpolitics.com/2011/10/10/rick-scott-wants-to-shift-university-funding-away-from-some-majors/

http://htpolitics.com/2011/10/12/rick-scotts-daughter-has-anthropology-degree/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jul/05/united-fair-economy/liberal-group-says-family-incomes-grew-equally-pri/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

http://www.foxnews.com/

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-07-08-science-engineer-jobs_N.htm

http://www.livecareer.com/news/Education/Obama-We-Need-More-Scientists-and-Engineers_$$00753.aspx