Humanities and STEM subjects – Hannah Cowne, St Philomena’s

Generally, I find that when I respond to being asked what subjects I take, the response is relatively minimal, whereas regarding people who take more science based subjects, people seem to be more impressed. According to one person I interviewed, ‘people view STEM subjects as very difficult’ and ‘people do view people who take STEM subjects as highly intelligent and dedicated’ which may be part of the reason for this more positive response.

In terms of the reasoning behind this response, I also decided to ask whether or not STEM subjects are harder, and although this is subjective, those I interviewed seemed to think that whilst they must be difficult, it is difficult to compare them to humanities subjects in this way. It may just depend on personal inclination towards certain subjects, so that each and every student perceives different subjects as more difficult. However, despite this, it is certainly true that people generally seem to be more impressed with people that take STEM subjects. For one person I interviewed, she said that ‘I think it’s the concreteness of STEM subjects that account for its positive perception’ and that ‘intellect can be measured in STEM subjects through the number of marks- in humanities, it depends on an impossible amount of factors.’ 

‘There being no real wrong answer (within reason) may have its perks, but it also has its drawbacks’ as a person I interviewed put, adding to the overall perception that humanities subjects must be easier. It is definitely necessary to break this stereotype of humanities subjects as being less demanding, or less intellectual, than STEM subjects. Of course, STEM subjects are highly practical and relevant to the world, and as one person described ‘STEM can lead very neatly to a job as a chemist or a lab researcher.’ However, ‘literature can also equally lead to jobs in journalism or a social media manager’ as well as humanities subjects facilitating understanding of different viewpoints, communication and logical reasoning. Thus whilst STEM subjects do no doubt deserve positive acclamation, so too do humanities subjects, which also require intelligence and contribute to a more holistic understanding of the world.