So it’s all about STEM is it? Hmmm.

A most wise commentator on the radio said the other day, “Education seems to have become confused between training and learning.”

I couldn’t agree more.

At the same time, I think this may be a cyclical thing – the result of education in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s having become too removed from the needs of most of the population to gain an entry into the world of work.

The Blair-Brown government in the UK made it their mission to get 50% of young people going to university. Similar moves were in train in Europe and the US.

Putting politics aside, most of us agreed that the motivation was good. Tertiary education should not be the almost-exclusive province of the wealthy, the privately educated and the middle classes.

But to get the numbers up, pretty much every tertiary institution became a university. The school system was not upgraded to offer better pre-university training, and now we all know the stories about grade inflation at the university level. None of which is a matter of opinion or debate because the statistics and proofs are there for all to access.

So where are we today?

The notion of a ‘universal’ education at university seems to have gone out of the window – certainly as far as education policy is concerned.

Policymakers are obsessed with STEM subjects. The humanities are in decline.

Is this good for us – our society, our economics? I think not.

In the marketing profession, it is becoming harder and harder to find people who can write – both grammatically and in terms of putting a coherent and compelling argument together.

One friends’ daughter got into a very good American university. During her first semester this young lady was informed by her tutor that she would be taking an extra module the following semester. “What’s that for?”, she asked. “You need to learn how to write a proper essay – context point, counterpoint, objective discussion, conclusions,” her tutor said… “What you should have been taught at school.” And make no mistake, readers, this woman went to a very high-performing school.

There is a wider business point too.

People don’t do business with numbers… they don’t do business with machines… they do business with people. So being able to put a compelling case together and to argue it in a fluent, concise and punchy manner, is critical for all employees. Service engineers can perform as much of a customer loyalty and business development role (if they’re good at this) as their specific sales colleagues.

Yet our young cohort is being encouraged to avoid the hard work of constructing an argument… hide behind numbers and formulae… avoid the need to stand up and perform to the room.

Fostering the ability to do all this is fuelled by study of the humanities… history, languages, literature, drama. Numbers don’t get our emotions and enthusiasms going. Stories do. Shakespeare’s stories had been told many times before, but not as he told them.

So let’s not turn aside from the important emphasis on STEM and the computer sciences. That’s clearly very important. But let’s also keep boosting the humanities too.

And as that wise commentator said, let’s differentiate between education and training. The person who has both is indeed in a powerful position to make a stellar career.

I hope you find these bulletins entertaining. I’m happy to discuss all relevant engagements – from customer community creation, to directorial mentoring, to strategy development, to thought-leadership content development, to full campaign structuring and management, and more.

Do get in touch!