Education does not exist in a bubble because, frankly, life doesn't exist in a bubble.  Everyday the three R's intersect and interact with one another.  Education is a complex, comprehensive beast and when you attempt to separate its parts it becomes weak, ineffective, and useless.  For example, try separating writing from history or art.  Without our past experiences or future visions, writing would be a wasted exercise.  Try separating science from history, and what you will find is a repetition of events with no progress towards the future. 

STEM education is a trend that, while innocently enough tries to bring our focus to these particular subjects, actually serves to separate science, technology, engineering, and mathmatics from the other disciplines of education.  The New York Times has an article about the STEM trend as it makes its way through the education world.  Click here to read more.  As with any trend that highlights one area, it only throws a shadow over the other areas. 

STEM education may, in fact, be the type of movement we need to strengthen these areas.  However, if you begin to focus on one thing without concern, deliberate concern, for the other areas then weaknesses are sure to develop there, too.  Certainly math, science, engineering, and technology are essential to our future but if our students reading level and ability to communicate doesn't increase proportionally to the STEM areas, then all the knowledge in the world won't help us because we won't be able to tell anyone about it.