In what might be my favorite piece of Korean literature, Jo Changin writes: “Look up at the sky ten times a day. A day you have not looked at the sky at least ten times is a day poorly lived.” And what
In academia these days, it is hard to escape the seemingly stagnant binary set up between STEM and the humanities. For many people, committing to one of these worlds feels like a departure from the other in such a way that renders
The number of Swarthmore seniors graduating with degrees in English has dropped significantly over the last several decades, while a growing number of students are choosing to major in STEM disciplines, particularly computer science. In 1992, 62 Swarthmore seniors, nearly 17 percent
As a student at Swarthmore College, I cannot count how many times I have heard about the benefits of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Our distribution requirements attempt to ensure that all students gain exposure to subjects outside their major. Students can
The humanities — defined as the “big four” of English, languages, philosophy, and history — are in decline. Intellectuals and the public have been warning about this shift for decades and have pushed a wide variety of explanations for the decline: ballooning
When I tell people outside of Swat’s intellectual community that I want to be a Computer Science and English Literature double major, the response is usually something along the lines of, “Why study English?” The first time this happened, I was slightly
Last week, members of the class of 2019 assembled in the Lang Performing Arts Center for an event entitled “Chocolates, Chai, & Choosing” sponsored by members of the faculty and the Dean’s office. “Chocolates, Chai, & Choosing” is designed to be
Students at Swarthmore study abroad for countless reasons. Some go to fulfill language requirements, some because they find the one perfect, chance-of-a-lifetime program, and some, if not most, go for the main goal of getting off of Swarthmore’s beautiful but sometimes suffocating
Data from the Office of Institutional Research shows that the percentage of humanities majors awarded as a proportion of all degrees fell from around 25% to 16% from 2005 to 2014 while the number of natural science majors increased considerably. This shift
As the world becomes increasingly dependent on technology and educational policymakers continue to push for STEM education in American schools, the balance and nature of humanities and natural science courses at Swarthmore are changing. A Daily Gazette article published earlier this month