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by Fricken 2811 days ago
Many of the people who go into STEM do so because they want to deal with the task put in front of them without it being complicated. They don't want to deal with a bunch of icky emotions, and they don't want to trip themselves up asking murky existential questions about why they're doing what they do. This is a condition of temperament, you can run them through a gristle mill of humanities classes, it doesn't mean they'll internalize it if it isn't what they're inclined towards. You can lead a horse to knowledge, but you can't make it think.
1 comments

I think your characterization of people who go into STEM is detracting from what could be an otherwise compelling argument. There are stronger reasons why people choose STEM. I agree that adding a few ethics classes won't change ethical behavior outcomes for those who would have chosen STEM programs anyway.
I'm not as certain. I went into college full-on STEMLord type person. Humanities was useless, STEM was the only way forward, etc etc. Graduated much the opposite, wanting to see more people appreciate the Humanities and incorporate them into their work and such.

And it all happened because I took some interesting humanities courses, and had some fun teachers. My two philosophy ones -- a general introduction, then a Philosophy of Science course taught by a person who had actually gotten their undergraduate in biophysics -- really led to some interesting discussion, and got me reading deeper and more across the humanities. Now, that's most of my reading, it seems.