Integrating Liberal Arts and STEM:
A Recipe for Well-Rounded Success
TEXT Q. MARK REFORD
I n such a relentlessly competitive
global marketplace, most parents
struggle with the same question:
“How on earth do I prepare my
kids for what they are going to face?”
Parents are flooded with information
on the best educational options and
philosophies, and all claim their model
is the best way to educate and equip
their children for the future.

Many parents are well versed in the
core elements of a traditional, American
liberal arts education from their own
experience in college. They deeply
value the literature, philosophy, history
and political science classes they were
lucky enough to attend.

At the same time, STEM has become
an educational buzzword and strong
focus for many schools and universities.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education,
Jim Shelton, has this to say on the
importance of STEM: “Everything
we know about the way the world
is evolving is saying that STEM is
becoming a more important part of not
only the technology sector, but every
sector of the economy—and, frankly,
solving most of the world’s most
important problems.”
Check out a university course catalogue
and you will see STEM subjects in their
various combinations increasingly
dominate the offerings. Ask a university
16 September 2015 washingtonFAMILY.com
admissions officer about the number of
students interested in majoring in the
humanities, and you might be shocked
at how small it is in comparison to
STEM fields.

Should parents and students have
to choose between a STEM-focused
education and a deep immersion in
the humanities and social sciences?
The simple answer is, no. It is vital
that young people learn to investigate
and understand their world and its
many problems and opportunities
as scientists, armed with serious
mathematical and technological
competencies. Yet is that enough to
ensure their futures and help them
build lives for themselves? Consider
how enriched the scientist’s questions
might be by a knowledge of the theories
philosophers have given to explain the
mystery of our conscious experience of
ourselves, of others and of the world.

The fusion of liberal arts and STEM is
at the core of a great, contemporary
American education. So, when parents
are touring schools to find the best
fit for their children, I recommend
they ask specific questions to discern
whether the curriculum is an authentic
fusion of STEM and liberal arts,
including: • What are student-learning results
on external examinations that can
show me the quality of your math
program? • When do you begin teaching
the core scientific triumvirate of
physics, chemistry and biology as
separate, serious disciplines?
• Is the math program integrated
with the science program in earlier
grades when students need to learn
the real world applications of math
competency? • When do students start the
immersive study of a non-native
language? Can they study more
than one?
• Are foundational components
in the social sciences and
humanities, like philosophy and
economics, part of the school’s core
curriculum, or just electives for an
interested few?
No parent can underestimate the
importance of the answers given for
their children’s future.

Dr. Q. Mark Reford is vice chairman of global strategy
for BASIS Independent Schools. BASIS Independent
McLean is a preschool – grade 12 private school
opening fall 2016 in Tysons, VA. The school is part of
the growing network of BASIS Independent Schools
teaching a world acclaimed liberal arts, STEM-focused
curriculum. Three BASIS.ed-managed schools were
ranked in the top 10 on Washington Post’s 2015
high school rankings, with one included in the public
• Do you have an accelerated math
program? elites, along with Thomas Jefferson High School for
Science and Technology. Learn more at McLean.

BASISindependent.com.