In my experience, Fine art students, particularly home students from lower SES backgrounds will often feel intimidated in association to scientific, mechanical or mathematical applications in the arts. This can be problematic as more and more students want to work in ‘New Media’ yet have self doubt, feel unable or unworthy to access the support they need to develop these ideas.
Moreover, there is often gendered and racial stereotyping that further isolates Art students from approaching STEM methodologies. This is because a ‘false dichotomy’ as Ashton, H. (2023) lays out in Cutting the STEM of future skills: beyond the STEM vs art dichotomy in England: Creating a situation within secondary and further education meaning that students from lower SES who are capable in STEM choose that over the Arts to study into Higher education.
This then creates a situation whereby students who have chosen arts from that same background are even more likely to be intimidated, as their own choices will have been ‘presented (to them) as a frivolous ‘nice to have’ which is neither economically useful nor worthy of substantial public funding.’ Ashton, H. (2023)
In reaction to this, I have also experienced dismissing remarks and inferences from some within arts education, with the implication being that it is a fad subject, that is only technical and novel in nature or ‘undeliverable’ and too expensive in the current economic climate: Ironically, inversely mirroring in rational, the same reason STEM as was made a priority within education by Labor in 2005 Ashton, H. (2023)
References
Ashton, H. Cutting the STEM of future skills: beyond the STEM vs art dichotomy in England.