In modern education it is not unknown that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are promulgated as subjects that are required to ensure a bright future, while the literary arts are often considered as a secondary enrichment. Creative writing, drama, poetry, and literary analysis is often considered as pastimes that are to be enjoyed in one’s down time, and often considered less practical than subjects with direct applications. However, as a staunch advocate for the inclusion of arts in education, I advocate that reading and writing is imperative to foster critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and communication, especially in a world that has become increasingly reliant on technology and artificial intelligence.

Students are often under a lot of pressure academically and under mental health stress, so they are not only resources that help them process the tumultuous process of growing up. Writing is a thoroughly internal process that helps students manage and regulate the large emotions they face as adolescents, and equips them with habits that allow them to process large changes, even as adults, in a responsible and healthy manner. Through personal narratives, fiction, poetry, students are given the opportunity to learn about themselves. Writing gives students the opportunity to really see their emotions visibly on the page, and gives them time to try to understand why they feel the way they feel, and gives them time to reflect on their lives.

Through character development students are encouraged to learn more about others and the large world around them. When students begin to develop characters that are different from themselves, they begin to practice empathy, a powerful trait that will serve them well in real-life situations as well. By stepping into the shoes of a protagonist facing unfamiliar struggles, students learn to explore contrasting perspectives, and begin to choose open-mindedness over their own biases. The beauty of literature is that it simply does not observe another human being, but opens up individuals to their unique values, beliefs, hopes, and dreams.

This capacity for deep empathy is why literary arts shouldn’t be viewed as secondary to STEM. We live in an era where artificial intelligence can synthesize vast amounts of data and generate code in seconds, and thus it is the skills that are only unique to humans, such as empathy, which become valuable.

Integrating the literary arts into education also helps enhance communication. At school, students are often taught to create writing that is simply persuasive or around a central theme, inhibiting their inherent creativity. However, by integrating literary arts into education, schools could help students harness their creativity into creating compelling works of literature, and by learning to write in different perspectives and tones, students can understand who to write in a method where they anticipate how diverse audiences might understand their writing, and adjust their voice, register, and style depending on what type of work they are working on. Literary arts often require complex plot construction, this can teach students to think sequentially, ensuring their arguments flow logically from the beginning to the conclusion with imagery and pacing, allowing them to capture and retain their audience’s attention whether they are writing a science fiction novella or in a boardroom pitching their business.

Ultimately, the debate between the literary arts and STEM should not be considered a struggle with only one victor, rather it is imperative that schools see how literary arts can teach students empathy and communication skills, that can assist them in their future endeavors, whether it be in the field of arts or not. In a world where technical skills are increasingly becoming redundant, it is critical to hone the critical human abilities of empathy and communication in order to prepare students for the world.