Society
Education as the Great Equalizer
If humanity fails to do this, have we truly learned anything at all?
Education offers individuals the opportunity to ascend into unique paths to benefit our society.
However, how may intrinsic, circumstantial, and extrinsic individual factors influence this path?
Investigating the field of science may provide an example of this line of inquiry.
Science is the study of life, the universe, and everything. However, the academic structure and process of science may not reflect this, organized such that scientific inquiry is conducted through specialization and division of knowledge into disciplines, or in other words, independent trees with specific and separate branches. However, when observing a tree, one may note the branches ultimately end. Thus, may scientific inquiry branches may also ultimately end? Is it fruitless for civilization to continue to pursue the further line of inquiry within a discipline after a certain stage?
As another point of view, what if the independent trees are all intertwined, and the perception of what humanity views as independent lines of inquiry is simply a reflection of humanity’s view of the world, rather than the reality.
This observation may relate to the human behavioral tendency toward division (i.e. societal entropy). The aim of human constructs, such as education, is to overcome entropy towards order, by acquiring knowledge to aid in decision-making towards structure and away from chaos.
In turn, how could independent branches and trees of scientific inquiry be fostered to flourish together, for what they may be in reality, rather than in parallel, for what humanity has hypothesized for them to be? How could science be a vehicle, as an example for other disciplines, as science is the study of life, and in turn diversity, being the study of our universe, and in turn inclusivity from our shared experiences within our universe, and being the study of everything, in turn, the study of equitability?
In theory, academia provides the platform and structure for bringing together individuals from all circumstances and contexts. In reality, does it truly foster an environment of inter-disciplinary bridging across disciplines, and if not, how could it be re-structured?
Let’s investigate and consider STEAM disciplines, firstly by describing each category and its function:
Scientists allow us to see the world.
Technologists invent the tools that allow us to see the world.
Engineers design and build the tools that allow us to see the world.
Mathematicians express these matters of the world in an unbiased, objective way.
And finally, artists communicate and visualize these disciplines, together.
By combining these disciplines, STEM allows us to understand the world and universe, in theory. Our knowledge from STEM is acquired from people, all unique and distinct individuals, within STEM, though if STEM is not representative of all humanity, do we truly understand the world and universe?
The answer to these questions lies within, from context, and externally, which identify what we choose to see and determine humanity’s special gravity towards curiosity and communication. However, if do not enable all of humanity’s capacity to express and show these qualities, then we only see what we choose to see, rather than what the world and universe truly can show us.
If humanity fails to do this, have we truly learned anything at all?
Sunny Narayanan, PhD, is a first-generation, immigrant American with an inter-disciplinary background in STEAM (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunny-narayanan-69684136/). For the entirety of his career, Sunny has been connected with NASA supporting its human space exploration objectives, and now as a professor, supports the next generation of students and young professionals from diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences on their professional journeys across industries, communities, and disciplines.
