Japan universities eliminating humanities and social science departments.

Freeeeaky.

In a speech, Japan's education minister, Hakuban Shimomura, stated that the country's colleges and universities should eliminate their humanities and social science departments. The focus, said Shimomura, should be on "more practical, vocational education that better anticipates the needs of society." If this was America, that would mean a greater focus on bacon.

This follows in the steps of Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, suggesting that in order to place Japan back amongst the world's elite (wait, what the--, they're not?), it must focus higher education more on the STEM subject areas (science, technology, engineering, math). Those freaky, life-like robots coming out of Tokyo aren't going to build themselves, people!

Apparently bowing to pressure, 50 universities and institutes of higher learning across the country are taking Shimomura's advice and are shuttering their humanities and social science departments. In return, these universities are focusing their financial means on the aforementioned STEM departments.

So, in essence, everyone in Japan will be able to do math, they just won't be able to read the directions.



photo: BBC