Current Reading

This blog is primarily for me to blog my responses to books that I'm reading. Sometimes I blog about other stuff too, though.

Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond.

Word cloud

Word cloud

Monday, February 19, 2018

STEAM punks

Still not a lot of time for in-depth commentary, but today's Inside Higher Ed has an article on the issue of whether to classify economics as a STEM field.  I didn't realize how high the stakes are:  Normally an international student graduating from a US university only gets one year to work in the US before they need to either leave or get a work visa.  But now I have learned that if they get a STEM degree they get 3 years, and the more quantitative economics programs count.  Needless to say, all economics programs are now trying to get classified as STEM.

This adds some context to the recent buzz around "STEAM" as a replacement for STEM.

Excellent essay in Quillette

I don't have time to give an organized reflection on this essay, but I do want to link this essay in Quillette, on how diversity is an idea very strongly favored by the managerial classes.  It isn't just about regulatory compliance, or the pursuit of PR, it's a deep belief.