Anonymous
02/14/2026 08:22
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
The "A" was added to appease non-STEM folks, and its often silly.
My private school in a different metro has a very very strong Arts & Music program, with a dedicated Arts & Music building and facilities, yet had to add the A to appease non-STEM big donors.
My private school in a different metro has a very very strong Arts & Music program, with a dedicated Arts & Music building and facilities, yet had to add the A to appease non-STEM big donors.
Anonymous
02/14/2026 08:18
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:People here do not seem to understand that successful engineers and scientists need to be creative to do their job.
For real. People are not going to be successful engineers and scientists by just reading lots of books and doing problem sets. We do need more creativity and critical thinking. However, I am also a little skeptical that a STEAM curriculum is going to fix the problems. We'd probably be better off in all the subjects if we just kept all the devices out of kids hands until their frontal lobes were more mature and so they have some form of attention span left.
There is no "problem" to solve.
Every engineer and scientist I know -- and I work in a lab filled with them -- already is very creative.
Separate from that, robotics kits and lego and such are not harmful. "Screens" are not the main thing in STEM. STEM is mostly thought and hands-on building.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 14:35
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:People here do not seem to understand that successful engineers and scientists need to be creative to do their job.
Exactly! User interface is about creativity, but engineering is not? Really?
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:10
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My 7th grader in public school is reading three assigned booked right now. One is a novel study for English class. Another is in Civics class, something about a firsthand account of a legal trial about a violation of civil rights. And then they have an author visit at the end of the month so they need to read that book and draft thoughtful questions for the author.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
DP. My kid in AP English lang this year has all of TWO books/novels to read- for the entire year. The rest of the readings are text excerpts from various articles or books. If I wasn’t so disappointed in public education I might be shocked.
This is fantastic. Sadly, unless these kids are doing the work in the classroom AND they have banned all tech in the classroom, I can bet you that a number of the kids are using AI to summarize the books and to draft those thoughtful questions.
I don't know what other kids are doing, but mine has been reading these books every day after school and on weekends, plus answering questions that need to be submitted. Class time is used for discussion and analysis.
So is mine, but mine also reports that kids are using shortcuts.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:07
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My 7th grader in public school is reading three assigned booked right now. One is a novel study for English class. Another is in Civics class, something about a firsthand account of a legal trial about a violation of civil rights. And then they have an author visit at the end of the month so they need to read that book and draft thoughtful questions for the author.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
DP. My kid in AP English lang this year has all of TWO books/novels to read- for the entire year. The rest of the readings are text excerpts from various articles or books. If I wasn’t so disappointed in public education I might be shocked.
This is fantastic. Sadly, unless these kids are doing the work in the classroom AND they have banned all tech in the classroom, I can bet you that a number of the kids are using AI to summarize the books and to draft those thoughtful questions.
I don't know what other kids are doing, but mine has been reading these books every day after school and on weekends, plus answering questions that need to be submitted. Class time is used for discussion and analysis.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:05
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:People here do not seem to understand that successful engineers and scientists need to be creative to do their job.
For real. People are not going to be successful engineers and scientists by just reading lots of books and doing problem sets. We do need more creativity and critical thinking. However, I am also a little skeptical that a STEAM curriculum is going to fix the problems. We'd probably be better off in all the subjects if we just kept all the devices out of kids hands until their frontal lobes were more mature and so they have some form of attention span left.
The A wasn't added to STEM to make engineers more creative, it was added to make gateway activities more interesting to those who aren't already interested in STEM. The hope is that some of those kids will become interested in STEM and pursue a career in it.
Creativity required in engineering isn't about adding art.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:03
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:My 7th grader in public school is reading three assigned booked right now. One is a novel study for English class. Another is in Civics class, something about a firsthand account of a legal trial about a violation of civil rights. And then they have an author visit at the end of the month so they need to read that book and draft thoughtful questions for the author.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
DP. My kid in AP English lang this year has all of TWO books/novels to read- for the entire year. The rest of the readings are text excerpts from various articles or books. If I wasn’t so disappointed in public education I might be shocked.
This is fantastic. Sadly, unless these kids are doing the work in the classroom AND they have banned all tech in the classroom, I can bet you that a number of the kids are using AI to summarize the books and to draft those thoughtful questions.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 11:01
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:People here do not seem to understand that successful engineers and scientists need to be creative to do their job.
For real. People are not going to be successful engineers and scientists by just reading lots of books and doing problem sets. We do need more creativity and critical thinking. However, I am also a little skeptical that a STEAM curriculum is going to fix the problems. We'd probably be better off in all the subjects if we just kept all the devices out of kids hands until their frontal lobes were more mature and so they have some form of attention span left.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 10:36
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
People here do not seem to understand that successful engineers and scientists need to be creative to do their job.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 10:30
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
My 7th grader in public school is reading three assigned booked right now. One is a novel study for English class. Another is in Civics class, something about a firsthand account of a legal trial about a violation of civil rights. And then they have an author visit at the end of the month so they need to read that book and draft thoughtful questions for the author.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
DP. My kid in AP English lang this year has all of TWO books/novels to read- for the entire year. The rest of the readings are text excerpts from various articles or books. If I wasn’t so disappointed in public education I might be shocked.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 10:23
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who does not get why the A was added to STEM? I thought stem was supposed to be a focus on science tech math engineering. Adding the arts now means everything? Isn’t that just “school”? What am I missing?? STEAM as an acronym seems really stupid to me.
The "A" is really for design, but adding "D" doesn't make for a good acronym. STEMD? Think architecture, 3-D printing, data visualization, user interface, game/materials/product design, etc. It is meant to emphasize the more creative and innovative aspects of engineering, especially as it applies to actual industry needs. In industry, good engineering and good design should go hand in hand, especially if you are making a real working product. The A in steam doesn't mean that suddenly watercoloring is part of an engineering curriculum.
The people here claiming this is mainly about gender inclusivity are either a little bit misguided, or they have some other motive, which to find some way to turn absolutely every innocuous thing into an argument about how DEI is bad.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 10:14
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
DP. My kid in AP English lang this year has all of TWO books/novels to read- for the entire year. The rest of the readings are text excerpts from various articles or books. If I wasn’t so disappointed in public education I might be shocked.
Shut it
Anonymous
02/13/2026 09:19
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
DP. My kid in AP English lang this year has all of TWO books/novels to read- for the entire year. The rest of the readings are text excerpts from various articles or books. If I wasn’t so disappointed in public education I might be shocked.
Anonymous
02/13/2026 09:12
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
What does this mean, texts?
Anonymous
02/13/2026 08:52
Subject: STEAM buzzword - why?
Anonymous wrote:I'm supportive of math and science textbooks, but that's not what the post I was responding to was about. #readingcomprehensionAnonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:STEM education has nothing to do with not reading books in English or not having a strong music program.Anonymous wrote:The acronym is the least worst part of this evolution over the past 20 years. Whats really terrible is the shift away from teaching any creativity, the arts in any depth, writing, literature and history. My kids are at nw dcps schools that have more or less eliminated reading full books. My kid in AP lang is finally reading a couple books, but it’s mostly texts. Writing is taught like a math formula. Research is nonexistent. Schools used to have full orchestras and band- now you have to go to an outside program or an arts school.
Kids still have to go to English class and what they learn in that class is up to the English department (in HS at least). The math and science teachers aren't taking the English books away.
I think music and art have really suffered from an over importance being placed on sports. I don't think that has anything to do with STEM.
But they’ve taken math and science books away too. Reading actual books and writing on actual paper should be happening in every single subject. Kids learn math better when they have a text book to reference and read detailed explanations, see example problems, flip back to a previous chapter, look at the answer key and compare their answers. Plus the act of copying problems out of a book and hand writing them on the paper in an organized fashion helps reinforce learning, memory, and the process. Plus this enables parents to easily see what their child is learning, which problems they are working on, and if they are struggling. Same with science. There is next to no actual science instruction or reading/writing happening. It’s all “hands on” stem BS. Reading non fiction books and having actual science and math (and history) lessons that involve reading books and writing improve knowledge and test scores in ALL subjects.
It’s related