"Brian Conklin, who owns a website development start-up in West Palm Beach, knows he is a minority in the high-tech industry. He has a philosophy degree.

That’s a branch of those much maligned “liberal arts” that have been dumped on by politicians and de-emphasized in an American education system increasingly shepherding students toward science, engineering and technology fields touted as essential to the economy.

A loss for Liberal Arts: Lionidas Bachas is the dean of University of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he says the amount of English majors continually decreases while students increasingly go for STEM-majors. A loss for Liberal Arts: Lionidas Bachas is the dean of University of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he says the amount of English majors continually decreases while students increasingly go for STEM-majors. In 2011, Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott famously angered liberal arts educators, and anthropology departments in particular, when he talked about shifting funding priorities toward STEM programs and 'to degrees where people can get jobs in this state. Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists? I don't think so.' But his view has bipartisan backing. Two years later, President Barack Obama also urged students to study computer science and develop 'the skills today’s employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future.'"

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