TL;DR

Sometimes, the best way to learn is sink or swim.

Why are majors that aren't traditionally STEM required to take STEM courses? Wouldn't it be much more efficient not to put students and professors through that?

Well... no.

You need to struggle and be humbled in an uncomfortable situation to grow. You won't get better by doing what you're comfortable with and brushing off hard things as irrelevant.

Introduction

Every year, students at my faculty flood the admin office asking:

• Why do I have to take Physics? I'm a liberal arts student!
• Why is Statistics a required subject?

Sometimes, I feel inclined to brush it off as the complaint of someone who didn't read what they signed up for. The website and paperwork clearly state that STEM subjects are required. I did the work and read up on the subjects, so why do you get to complain?

However, I see that I was once that naive. I see now that it's similar to the argument I had against math in elementary/middle school.

You don't do anything much outside of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing in the real world. Why do we have to do math?

But You Won't Use It...

This seems like a valid argument.

You likely won't be calculating the velocity of molecules within an enclosed space under perfect conditions on a random Tuesday. You don't need to calculate cosine when parallel parking. You don't need to know what a p-value is to understand the median household income numbers. Besides, you'll have a calculator or an app that will do the heavy lifting for you if you ever need to do math!

I can say as an adult that when I go in public, I'm not using much trigonometry to figure out the shortest path. I'm not thinking about molecules in an enclosed space when I go to turn on the AC; just whether or not the door is closed so the cold air stays in the room. I don't use the majority of the things I learned in these classes.

Yes... But...

The math isn't "mathing"

STEM subjects for STEM majors make perfect sense. Why else would they be in a STEM major? But what about majors that aren't explicitly/exclusively STEM?

If there was no reason to teach STEM subjects, wouldn't it be better to not waste the resources on it? Why would professors get paid, electricity get pumped into the AC units that may or may not work, and admins be pelted with "Why do I have to take Physics" every year? Are schools really this inefficient? Are STEM courses just a front for money laundering???

No.

Three Words

Sink or swim.

Why do you spend time learning how to calculate matrices at 2:00 am for an exam you may or may not pass? You won't use that outside of coursework. You know it, and your professor knows it. The truth is, it was never about those matrices in the first place.

It's about putting yourself in a situation that is foreign and learning how to excel despite your disadvantage.

This is similar to my journey learning Japanese. I didn't necessarily have to do what I did. I could have gone to an international school or a Japanese language school and learned with far more cushioning than I had. I could have just taken the easier route, never touching topics like the works of Akutagawa or the Tale of Genji. I would have learned just what I needed to get by in everyday life, and that might have been enough.

However, I did have to go through these things to get to where I am now. I had to experience what it's like to keep failing despite doing your best. I had to be humbled not understanding slang and struggling to keep up with my peers. I had to learn how to accept failure while working to get better little bits at a time.

I never reference any classical Japanese literature in my daily life. I probably never will have to. There are many characters that I learned that I will likely never have to use; there are alternatives and Google Translate. What matters is the struggle to learn them.

This is why you, as a liberal arts or general science student, should take Thermodynamics. It's not about learning physics.

You're supposed to struggle. You're supposed to feel like it's hopeless at 1:46 am (even though you should probably be sleeping before your exam). The only way you will truly grow is when you're outside of your comfort zone.