Anyone — parents, teachers, policy-makers — who has kept up with the changes in U.S. education in the last decade will have noticed the obsession with STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM was promoted as the cure for everything — everything from rising Chinese power to poverty.
This STEM obsession has led to cuts, and sometimes the elimination, of courses of study that do not have obvious connections to the job market.
In addition, distribution requirements, which obligate both humanities and STEM students to broaden their views, have been eliminated too.
STEM and humanities professors, along with ordinary people whose lives have been improved by literature and the arts, protest. But their arguments about the value of knowledge that cannot be measured in terms of salaries or GDP are usually dismissed as merely the whining of the self-interested.
Fables are short and to the point. Aesop, La Fontaine, and many oral traditions offer CliffsNotes to big lessons hidden in novels, opera, or history books.
As each day brings further avoidable damage caused by the chainsaws aimed at our institutions and alliances, I wonder if we would be here if the “tech bros” and Trump and his court had a better grounding in the humanities.
I know, it’s a bit late for a remedial study of Dickens, Tolstoy, or modern history.
But I have an emergency solution: traditional fables.
Fables are short and to the point. Aesop, La Fontaine, and many oral traditions offer CliffsNotes to the big lessons hidden in novels, opera, or history books, which require preparation and time to understand. Fables are innately multicultural but also non-woke and not always politically correct. The same stories appear in many cultures, and sometimes the main characters are gods or animals. (George Orwell and Jonathan Swift relied on animals for their political satire.) Fables have handy morals, which are easy to remember and are widely known.
Here are a few fables that offer lessons that have been, or still might be, useful for the current administration.
The Tortoise and the Hare: In a bet about who reaches the finish faster, the tortoise and hare race. After the hare bounds ahead, then wastes his advantage, the surprise winner of the race is the tortoise. “Slow and steady wins the race” is the moral for this fable about overconfidence and haste.
The Ape and the Fox: After the lion dies, the other animals like the ape’s tricks and antics so much they choose him as their new leader. The fox, who has joined the ape’s court after losing out to him, uses a tasty morsel of meat to tempt the ape into a trap. There are several morals to be drawn from this: People should be careful choosing leaders because no one wants a gullible one. And never, ever underestimate your courtiers.
The Eagle and the Jackdaw: After the jackdaw sees an eagle catch and carry off a sheep, he tries to do so too. His claws get stuck in the sheep’s wool. The shepherd takes the jackdaw home to his family to save it, but they of course eat the bird. The morals are: Know your limits and don’t bite off more than you can chew.
The Fox Who Lost his Tail. A fox gets his tail caught in a trap. In escaping, he loses the bushy tail he was so proud of. At first, he is embarrassed and hides from other foxes. Then he calls them together and tells them how wonderful it is to live without a tail and how they should cut theirs off too. When the fox is forced to reveal that he no longer has a tail, he is ridiculed and exiled. The moral: Do not take advice from someone who wants to bring you to their level.
The Frogs Pick a King: The frogs, who were lazy and tired of running things, decided they would like to have a king who would both entertain them with the spectacle of royalty and govern them. The god Zeus, who knew they would regret wanting a king, threw down a log instead. At first, the splash frightened them, but they got used to the log and life went on. But the frogs weren’t satisfied and petitioned for another king. This time Zeus sent a stork, who ate up all the frogs. Morals: The people are never satisfied. Be careful what you wish for.
Do not take advice from someone who wants to bring you to their level.
The Farmer and the Gold: When a farmer’s plow turns up a chest of gold, he thanks the earth. However, the goddess Fortune, who is passing by, reprimands him for not thanking her. For if he had lost a chest of gold, the goddess reminds him, he would have blamed Fortune. Moral: Give credit where credit is due. Be aware of the real sources of success.
There are dozens more, not only in the catalog of what are known as “Aesop’s Fables,” but in Greek mythology and other traditional tales. There is Icarus, who fell to his death when he flew too close to the sun. Or the fisherman’s wife, who overdoes her requests for ever nicer-housing and soon finds herself back in the hovel she started in.
Even the STEM student least interested in literature could find time to read these. But without a dose of humility, they won’t. At their own peril.
