The ROOT and STEM of a Fruitful Business Education

Abstract

The author discusses the role of the liberal arts in a business curriculum for an increasingly science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)–centered world. The author introduces the rhetoric, orthography, ontology, and teleology (ROOT) disciplines, and links them to the traditional liberal arts foundation of higher education. The expanded role of the ROOTs in a business curriculum and its contribution to the STEM disciplines is explored. Finally different approaches for integrating ROOTs into the business curriculum are considered.

Keywords:

• classical education
• critical thinking
• humanities
• liberal arts
• STEM
• writing