Guest Blog By: Chris Woods
If you’re in education, you might have heard kids say things like this:
“I can’t learn math. I’m left-brained.”
“I don’t like reading books. I’m more of a math and science person.”
In a recent conversation with Beanie Geoghegan on the Founders Podcast, the idea came up as we were talking about STEM and CTE that “car mechanics should know Shakespeare, and Shakespeare lovers should be able to fix things on their car.”
To be honest, a mechanic doesn’t need to recite Hamlet while fixing your brakes. Brutus can turn a knife in the back of Julius Caesar on stage whether he can turn a wrench or not.
While those are both true, the idea of compartmentalized learning overlooks a main tenet of what education has been throughout the ages. Our brains are not limited by mutually exclusive topics. Education must incorporate (or rediscover) the necessity of building the “left” and “right” brain in students and normalize the acquisition and use of well-rounded knowledge and wisdom.
With the rise of technology in every corner of the world, there is an immediate focus and immense value placed on every student becoming proficient in a wide variety of STEM skills. Proficiency in mathematics and science, and at minimum a basic understanding of computer science, engineering, and technical skills, provides an important foundation in nearly every career.
Simultaneously, it’s becoming less common for kids (and adults) to know the classics of literature and the history of great civilizations. Those same technologies that give also take away. Spellcheck and autofill replace basic grammar and writing skills. Graphic novels and social media reels are replacing storytelling and listening. AI tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Grok are seemingly erasing our need for long-term memory. We don’t have to read or research if we can just let AI or a content creator summarize it for us.
It was common for my grandpa to come home after a day of fulfilling orders for automotive parts contracts and sit and read a book or tell me stories he had heard when he was a kid. My grandma grew up on a farm during the Great Depression, played the cello, built bombers for WWII as a Rosie the Riveter, crocheted baby hats for the hospital until arthritis made it impossible, and always took the time to read the scriptures every morning.
In history class, we learned about “Renaissance Men” like Michelangelo, da Vinci, George Washington Carver, and Benjamin Franklin. They pushed the limits of the arts and the sciences to include both, and it allowed their creativity and innovation to thrive. They didn’t pick Coke or Pepsi; they chose both. And root beer, coffee, and chocolate milk.
Unintentionally, we are becoming hollow shells of the legacies our parents and grandparents built for us. We are content to let someone else, or something else, do the hard work while we let ourselves be distracted by the devices in our hands and on our walls. But this does not have to be our future, or our present. We can instruct and teach our kids a variety of skills and prepare them to leave a strong legacy for the generations after them. And it can start with small steps to help our kids become “Shakespearean mechanics.”
If you’re a parent, help your kid replace the doorknob the next time it breaks. Challenge each other on car rides with spelling or multiplication contests. Build a snow fort. Show them how you learned to diagram a sentence. Visit a science or history museum. Play classical music. Take them to a library and check out biographies or classic books of fiction and poetry. And if they don’t have those books in stock, order them, read them, and pass them along to another family you know (or save them for their kids someday).
If you’re a teacher, ask your kids to think about the math or science in the next story you read in English class. Require the next essay to be written with paper and pencil. And if they don’t know how to spell a word, have them ask you and then add it to your next spelling list. Invite a guest speaker to your classroom to talk about their career, and ask them to include how they use literacy and STEM skills in their daily work. Encourage them to carry a book with them everywhere in case they have spare time (it’s much better than doomscrolling, and they know it). And always push back when a kid says they can’t do something because they’re “only good at math” or “I’m more of a reader” by sharing how you’re good at both, but that it takes work, effort, and practice.
Don’t wait to start. Whether you have kids, teach kids, or just know kids in your neighborhood community, pick some way to help them learn something today. There’s always something new to learn. As Shakespeare wrote, “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
About the Author:
Chris Woods created “DailySTEM” to provide educators and families with simple STEM resources that connect the real world to learning. He believes our kids need to see that STEM is all around us…in the backyard, at the store, in our homes, on TV and movies, in the news… everywhere!
For more resources check out his website: https://dailystem.com
