We do not have a STEM problem

in this country. We have a language problem, an arts problem, a creativity problem.

The "person of the year" is an astronaut and, dare I even say this, a female astronaut at that. She is the first person to be an astronaut under the flag of this country. (Yes, you can forget Andy Thomas apparently - he trained with the Americans.) 

Now this "person of the year" is speaking up about the need for people to do STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  This is what is expected of her, no it is doubt one of the reasons she was chosen for the role.  I have no arguments with that. We need scientists and mathematicians and the technicians and engineers and other professionals which go with all the employment in those areas.

The problem is that none of this can happen without language and nothing will develop without creativity. The would be scientist, mathematician, engineer or technician needs to be able to read and read well. It is not sufficient to be able to read the instructions on the box and put the widget together. The widget has to be put together and used. If we want that person to build a better widget then they need to know how the widget works and why it was made that way. They need to know this before they can use processes like logic and creativity to improve the performance of the widget. It might appear to be as if it is all grounded in science and maths and engineering but in reality it is not. That comes next. It begins because someone has the language and the capability to apply language to the problem.

I said this recently on a mathematical project page set up by an Oxford mathematician. I was howled down by people who tried to tell me that mathematics was more important than language. They appeared to completely ignore the fact they were using language to argue their case. They ignored the fact that unless they understood words like "one" and "two", "multiply", "integer", "division" and more they could not even begin to find a square root or calculate a Chi square. The Oxford mathematician agreed with me but it left me feeling alarmed by how little importance some people place on the ability to use language or how essential it is in order to participate in the world. 

A speech pathologist once said to me she was always amazed by how hard some people with severe communication disabilities will try to communicate. I do not find it amazing at all. I expect nothing less. It is why I will go out of my way to overcome communication barriers and help others to do the same. It is our ability to communicate in multiple ways which marks us out from so much of the animal kingdom. 

We need people who can read, who read with understanding and who read for enjoyment as well as information. People need to be able to read critically, to think about what they have read and assess it. They need to create their own ideas from what they read, hear and see. This cannot be done without language. This is what we need to base the education of the young on. 

We are being warned the government plans to spend less on libraries this year. That is wrong. We should be spending more, much more.