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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

Worse is "STEAM", where art is added. That was an invention by the Rhode Island School of Art and Design. The result has been maker spaces where people make collages from construction paper, like kindergarten.[1] No need for any heavy, expensive, dangerous equipment that can make real stuff.

[1] https://guides.newtonfreelibrary.net/makerspace/paper

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This argument fails, and with a poor example. Experimentation with cheap materials is a reasonable preparation for investing in more complex and time-consuming processes.

Also, fine "art" is what Leonardo DaVinci is primarily known for but only a fraction of what he and his contemporaries did during the renaissance.

Edit: removed the word "spurious", to here, near to "specious".

Leonardo DaVinci is certainly more well known for his engineering and inventions than his art.

As it relates to the problems with education, that is would be what one learns in STEM courses, while outside of them, I imagine one hears more about the Mona Lisa.

I wouldn't worry about "STEAM" being any worse than "STEM" already is. The common thread in "STEM" is, as far as I can tell, things that Americans think are too hard for them. Concretely, I'm not sure what good the policy implications are of a category does that spans mathematics and educational evaluation and public policy and archeology[1][2].

[1]: https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2... [2]: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12599/nsf12599.htm#appendix

Left to its own devices, the US education system would have you believe that a passing knowledge of the english language is the core deliverable from k-12. Science and math courses cost more, and have constant shortages of qualified teaching staff.

The danger of the over-emphasis on language skills is that college bound students who have done well in k-12 carry the notion forward and major in english, and psychology. They are then surprised when they hit against the reality that the job market for those with a 9th grade understanding of math&science that hasn't been exercised in 8 years and the ability to write a 50 page essay is surprisingly limited.

Only heavy, expensive, dangerous equipment for big men like you

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