Humanities in Asia: a call in Hong Kong for their recognition. From the article:

Since 2015, the Hong Kong government has pledged in its Policy Address to renew curricula and learning activities relating to science, technology and mathematics, as well as strengthen teacher training and STEM education. However, some academics believed that STEM education placed too much emphasis on science and neglected the importance of arts and humanities.

“Science requires moral values’ checks and balances,” said Chiu Yu-lok, a professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at the Open University of Hong Kong and a director of Joint Publishing Cultural Fund. He pointed out that arts and humanities subjects must be integrated into STEM education, or society’s moral values could lag behind technological advancement, which could result in unintended negative consequences….

Take robotics development as an example. He said the creation of robots should not be focused only on science and technology. It should also take into consideration human and moral factors.

“Arts and humanities inject science and technology development with positive thinking and the values upheld by individuals in society,” he said.

“Essentially this gives technological creations a purpose. Science and maths are instrumental disciplines, and only through the integration with arts and humanities can both disciplines lead to creations that are relevant to society and our daily lives.”…

Chiu further said that learning is both instrumental and purposive. The science knowledge that comes with STEM is auxiliary in achieving the instrumental goal, and the values associated with arts and humanities provide positive morality and outlook on life….

“But it is simply not enough to focus on fostering the material aspect of things. We still need to cultivate the non-material aspects of things, such as culture and morality. Only through the cooperation of the two sides can we advance civilization.

“From an education perspective, we are not accomplishing the goal of promoting students’ all-round development if we don’t combine arts and humanities with technology.”