STEM education remains true to its purpose: to serve as an intentional leveraging of human talent to increase human efficiency, survival, and comfort.
Among the advanced traits that propelled humanity toward global dominance, perhaps the most significant feature is our collaborative ability. Humans consistently cooperate across kin and tribe, and we recognize the fruits of collaborative efforts far before they are actualized. While you will never see two apes carrying a log together, Homo sapiens have understood for hundreds of thousands of years that collective contribution in the present is key to advancing individual goals in the future.
Point to any miraculous human feat, and I’ll show you the mind-blowing impact of the scaled teamwork it took to produce such marvels. This has never been so true as in the era of modern technological miracles. Now more than ever, this collaboration hinges on highly specialized parties.
Take, for example, the newly released iPhone 17. Apple’s 2025 Progress Report credits millions of skilled workers who contribute thousands of discrete components to build Apple’s premium product. Welders in Vietnam, rare earth mineral miners in China, and hardware designers in Silicon Valley: all of them work in a mass collaborative effort that spans thousands of technical specialties. This efficient supply chain is the only way smartphones can be manufactured and sold at commercial prices so low that nearly 90% of Americans carry one in their pocket. And every single one of the instrumental, efficient workers in this supply chain has been shaped by STEM education. Let’s be clear, STEM education isn’t restricted to the four-year undergraduate degree –– you elitist! Specialized education, through trade schools, apprenticeships, certifications, and company training programs make this global supply chain a reality.
For centuries, societies have reaped rewards from the miracles of human ingenuity that are possible only when our collaborative tendencies leverage specialization across technical sectors. Consider this a short and sweet argument for mass technical specialization.
Those who disagree and cast lofty ideals, like “the world would be a better place if everyone was an artist,” likely aren’t a part of the global majority who have limited access to a well-managed sanitation system. PS: Your toilets don’t work magically. Nearly all Americans are blessed to be living in a society that has systematically encouraged its population to adopt technical specialties. That’s right –– this leveraging of specialization doesn’t happen by accident.
Many American readers are likely a part of the lucky ~60% who were assured college was in their future from an early age. Some students never even realize the path they’re on –– parents, scholarships, curricula, and industry subsidies nudge them toward technical fields because our economy’s survival and the livelihood of millions depend on it. Bastions of STEM education, including trade schools, Fortune 500 companies, and research institutions offering undergraduate courses are talent pools on which our society relies to advance quality of life.
Of course, this system isn’t perfect. Sometimes technical projects do lose the plot. Who needs an iPhone 17 anyways? Even when free-market capitalism or government subsidies seem misaligned with human advancement, modern STEM education has been designed to endure.
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the non-government agency that “accredits programs in…science, computing, and engineering technology,” requires ethics considerations in courses that each student takes. ABET accreditation is the standard for all conventional technical degrees across the globe––a standard that stresses the professional and ethical responsibility of its graduates.
These principles go beyond the bounds of ABET. Steven Bell, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Tufts University, rejects the caricature of the mercenary engineer. Instead, he emphasizes the human-facing aspects of the practice. “Almost everything an engineer does is human-centered,” he noted in my conversation with him. At Tufts, students are trained to center human needs in design, development and implementation. Beyond ethics and human centered design, Bell emphasized that quality STEM education aims to teach enduring skills rather than the hottest tools. “If you chase every new trend, you’ll always be irrelevant,” he asserted. “The balance is to teach enduring concepts with practical tools so students can adapt.” This philosophy of teaching forms adaptable thinkers who can attack humanity’s problems in any domain. That sounds like a framework that cultivates a mindset of service to humanity –– a far cry from the cold and narrow-minded mercenaries many make engineers out to be.
STEM education is the scaffolding of our society. To say it has lost the plot is to ignore the integral infrastructure that facilitates our modern lives. The truth seems a lot simpler: STEM education is the engine of human flourishing, and the reason our future will be brighter than our past.
Artwork by Nicole Mousad.