> As near as I can tell, they think this is something recent, but in my experience it started in the 1970s and the emphasis on increasing emphasis on STEM since the mid-2000s is the course correction that’s taking place now.
I believe what underscores the current problem is STEM being something special, while current "elite" STEM high school is what used to be a normal school curriculum 60-70 years ago.
Everybody miss the fact that curriculums were much more small, compact, pushing, and focused in the West before everything from basket weaving to "business education" managed to sneak into high schools.
A conservative, and supposedly "elite" high school in Russia in nineties-noughties were all having more hours, and very few subjects.
Mine were 8 classes 5 days a weeks of:
- math
- physics
- geometry
- engineering
- chemistry
- language
- pe
- biology, literature, history, geography, informatics, 2nd foreign language, military education, professional education as electives
And even math, and physics there wasn't anything too fancy. We used textbooks with more hardcore, and grinding emphasis on arithmentics, and analysis/linear/diffeq/stats were put in the last 2 years almost as an afterthought. In physics, they actually removed almost all of curriculum quantum stuff, and put even bigger emphasis on Newtonian mechanics, and Landau-Lifschitz classics for everything else.
The school tried to introduce art as was required per new Russian curriculum, but it was quickly thrown out after a year due to militant opposition from parents.
I believe what underscores the current problem is STEM being something special, while current "elite" STEM high school is what used to be a normal school curriculum 60-70 years ago.
Everybody miss the fact that curriculums were much more small, compact, pushing, and focused in the West before everything from basket weaving to "business education" managed to sneak into high schools.
A conservative, and supposedly "elite" high school in Russia in nineties-noughties were all having more hours, and very few subjects.
Mine were 8 classes 5 days a weeks of:
- math
- physics
- geometry
- engineering
- chemistry
- language
- pe
- biology, literature, history, geography, informatics, 2nd foreign language, military education, professional education as electives
And even math, and physics there wasn't anything too fancy. We used textbooks with more hardcore, and grinding emphasis on arithmentics, and analysis/linear/diffeq/stats were put in the last 2 years almost as an afterthought. In physics, they actually removed almost all of curriculum quantum stuff, and put even bigger emphasis on Newtonian mechanics, and Landau-Lifschitz classics for everything else.
The school tried to introduce art as was required per new Russian curriculum, but it was quickly thrown out after a year due to militant opposition from parents.