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David Ward's avatar

Fine post John. Your writing is always thought provoking.

You wrote: “As STEM programs take an increasing share of the student enrollment, how do the faculty structures respond?” I just don’t see this—at my institution—as being true. Business, Music, and Art seem to be doing well. Science (particularly physics, my area) struggles much more to attract students. I am not a social scientist (note the term science there) but at Christian liberal arts institutions the sciences are poorly understood and appreciated. (The great majority don’t even offer a physics degree.) I encounter colleagues outside the sciences who don’t even really understand what science is, which is sad.

It is my guess that at large R1 schools the STEM fields are taking an increasing share of student enrollment, but our Christian university has a different culture and dynamic. It is my dream to see the majority of students at least see and appreciate the deeply human value of physics and to appreciate physics and mathematics for the creative, enriching disciplines they are. But at 67 years of age I know I’ll not see it—I haven’t seen it since I left my R1 school to teach in small Christian schools.

Non-science faculty, by and large, don’t appreciate or even comprehend what science is. Most would be fine with science dropping from the Core. That’s just a sad fact. The fearless Christian university would value science as much as literature or the arts.

Thanks again John and God bless.

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