Without human touch, Information Technology is nothing

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is another proof that vocational skills go hand in hand with humanities. While launching a new generation of iPad he said, “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with humanities that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.” PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Skills in humanities are now needed more than ever before.

  • They prepare learners on how to read, analyse and dissect information.

  • They teach them to be adaptable. The computer coding language taught in the past is of no use now.

By default, many parents prepare their kids for science-oriented courses. The bias towards science and vocational courses writ large.

Humanities — studies about human culture, such as literature, philosophy, and history — don’t seem to have the appeal like their sciences. For some parents, taking humanities is taking an uncertain road to the future — never mind that not everyone has the aptitude for the sciences.

But even in a world powered by technology, the notion that graduates in humanities are inferior has no legs to stand on. Here is why.

MEMORISING FACTS

Google has a colossal collection of knowledge. In the days gone by, one would show their mental mettle by memorising facts. With Google’s stupendous servers teeming with information, it’s pointless to burn brain cells committing massive amounts of data and facts to memory as this information is just clicks away. So, rote learning and recall is now of little value. Instead, students need skills for lifelong learning; skills on how to think and to spur creativity. Tools to help them express themselves clearly and cleanly.

SOCIAL LADDER

Even if one masters math, technology and sciences, but cannot lucidly express themselves, they would find it rough to thrive, leave alone climbing to the pinnacle of social, political and economic ladder. Look at it this way: Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, requires his senior management to write memos for meetings. PowerPoints and bullet points are banished from his meetings. Meeting presentations are in the form of pages of well-articulated prose.

Bezos gets it: Writing jargon-free concepts takes more than vocational training. It takes critical and creative thinking; the type of skills one would acquire at the feet of a professor of humanities, coupled with years of practice.

PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, is another proof that vocational skills go hand in hand with humanities. While launching a new generation of iPad he said, “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with humanities that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.”

Keep in mind that another tech titan, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO, was himself a psychology major while at school. Zuckerberg is never shy of explain that he wasn’t driven by technology while forming Facebook.

DISSECT INFORMATION

His motivation was to connect people and make them comfortable sharing their identities and their lives online. He brought psychology into technology to hatch Facebook.

Skills in humanities are now needed more than ever before. They prepare learners on how to read, analyse and dissect information. They teach them to be adaptable. The computer coding language taught in the past is of no use now.

Discounting humanities is denying our society ingenuity, creativity and the skills needed to sell products produced by graduates of vocational training.

Mr Wambugu is an informatics specialist. Email: [email protected] @samwambugu2