I work in my University's writing center, a resource for students who struggle with language arts and other writing/reading skills. Many of the students I help are very intelligent and focused, but have almost zero writing ability. They scored a high enough score on the SAT to be admitted, but the SAT does not gauge your ability to process literary content, or dissect a claim, or appraise one's own biases. It doesn't test your ability to write a convincing argument, or to destroy someone else's. Writing in today's age is the way most people manifest themselves in the world. We are defined by what we write, how we write it, etc. Not having the ability to express how you feel because your literary education is poor is, in my opinion, an aspect of why economic mobility is declining. How are you supposed to advocate for yourself coherently, concisely, and powerfully? How are you supposed to propose solutions at your place of work? Do you know how to respond to backlash? How are you going to manage your relationships without the ability to clearly express yourself AND UNDERSTAND the complex expressions of your partner? Do you know how to write a formal Email? Do you know how to write a resume that accurately reflects and highlights your strengths? Most of my students don't.

We consider education to be the gateway out of poverty, but only education that leads (presumably) to a high paying job. We don't pay attention to the education that allows people to operate optimally in the world, something that desperately needs to come first.

I'm not knocking STEM. The privilege of accessing this website is granted to me by people much smarter than I who invested their time in STEM. It just breaks my heart to see an entire generation of incredibly competent computer science majors who write at a fifth grade level in their senior year of college. It's not their fault. The American school system decided language arts only had Shakespeare to offer and de-prioritized it. What a damning mistake.

EDIT: For clarity, I am not encouraging people to pursue literary degrees in college. I think their value is questionable compared to the certainty that a STEM job can give you, provided that you apply yourself well. The crux of my argument is that language is the foundation upon which everything you do in life is built and it should be taught and reinforced as such. I see students with immense, marketable talent who cannot market themselves, write good emails, write decent speeches/addresses, or even verbally argue on their own behalf well. This is crippling.