STEM is incredibly valuable, but if we want the best innovators we must teach the arts

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5. I wish I had the brain for it. I wish -- for my life -- that I did.

I've always been a much better writer than programmer or maths person. In fact I can't do much in the way of maths at all. What this means is that I'm probably going to end up a sandwich "artist" at Subway. Writing is not a "job" that generates money in this age of the Internet. People do freelance stuff and blogging, but even then they're mostly cobbling together $1 "buy me a coffee" donations into their PayPal accounts and whatever pennies on the dollar they get from spammy Google AdSense links. Publishing companies aren't interested in newbie nobodies; they're only interested in ghostwritten memoirs from Office cast members and whatever Lena Dunham is currently musing about.

Teach the arts all you want, but not at the expense of job skills for the 21st century. Nobody cares about some dumb thesis on the Canterbury Tales or symbolism of mental illness in Van Gogh's art and Beethoven's sonatas. The arts are wonderful but they're not going to put bread on your table. For that you need a STEM job if you're not already loaded with dough.