I think Liberal Arts programs absolutely should be a prereq for STEM careers. One of the reasons tech is in the state it is, is due to the lack of ethics courses taught.
I've posted this before, but a year or so ago I was at a major medical research conference for my field (infectious diseases). I was struck when I realized that in every single plenary talk, given by people at the peak of their careers and having a huge impact on science, there was something that betrayed an underlying liberal arts education.
Re:College May Not Be Worth It Anymore
by VikingCoder on Thursday May 17, 2018 @02:53PM
(#17094316)
Sure, make it a huge contributing factor in promotion, moving to project management, etc.
But not a pre-req for day one, earning a salary.
Hell, let's make some Continuing Education demands on STEM.
Again, I strongly disagree. Make it a requirement before writing a single line of code. The impact this industry has on the world is such that ethics training is a must.
Re:College May Not Be Worth It Anymore
by VikingCoder on Thursday May 17, 2018 @04:43PM
(#17095510)
Anyone should be able to write code.
Accepting a pull request (code reviews) should require training.
Launching code requires even more training.
Roughly, I think we should think in terms of Trade Schools and Liberal Arts programs.
I'm a huge fan of Liberal Arts programs, but I don't think they should be a pre-requisite for a STEM career. They also shouldn't be a pre-requisite for many jobs that people have today.
We should all be much more in favor of Mentoring. Maybe Corporations should receive tax benefits for being good Mentors.