Humanities and Sciences are both essential in each and everyone’s lives. Sciences are important as it ensures new possibilities and ideas for our society. Science can be defined as “the study of the physical, biological aspects of the world.” 1 It is very much like reality. Technology, medicine, business are all science-related courses that are essential in our daily lives in the future. Humanities, on the other hand, are more about “content with not knowing, but rather, practice questioning and questioning, never settling on one single answer, because the truth is just based on different perceptions.” 2 Humanities facilitate critical thinking and perspectives, and such subjects include literature, history, social sciences and the cultural identity of each country. Both the humanities and the science are correlated and work hand in hand. “Both the sciences and the humanities seek understanding; both offer explanations of various bits of the world.” 3
The Ministry of Education (MOE) too agrees that students should be exposed to both the humanities and the sciences. MOE has changed the Advanced-level syllabus on 2006. Each junior college student is required to take a minor in either the arts or the science combination. According to MOE, “Most people will change jobs at least a few times in their careers, sometimes switching to jobs in entirely new fields. What will give advantage is being able to adapt to new situations, to draw on insights from different fields, and to think on your feet.”4 Students are able to better adapt to their surroundings, consider more options and choices in their future, and ensure a holistic curriculum and environment for them to be in.
Technology is a science-related subject. Our world is changing. We rely on technology in ways we cannot imagine 30 years ago. Technology is essential and ubiquitous. For instance, smart phones functions as both a basic phone, which helps consumers communicate, and a mini portable computer. According to the Article STEM: Moving the Liberal Arts Education into the 21st century by Scott Bevins, people nowadays are widely exposed to technological equipment. Technology not only provides on-the-go entertainment, but is able to allow work-done efficiently and effectively. Teachers now integrate technology into their teaching. NTU uses clickers during their lectures and this enables students to answer question anonymously, and promotes learning. Clickers help students “develop a more solid, integrated, useful understanding of concepts and their interrelationships and applicability.” 5 Technology has helped students be more equipped to survive in a complex, highly technological knowledge-based economy and “has transformed the delivery of education, eroding the barriers of the past and thus increasing accessibility and flexibility for students.” 6
However, technology alone is not good enough for our society. Technology helps break down barriers and unify our world. However, this is at the expense of each country’s cultural identity. Due to the integration of technology around the world, cultures have been eroded. Loss of cultures in certain countries due to technology has too led to a loss in jobs in these sectors. For example, in Malacca, its Portugese and Peranakan culture are widely known and thus has attracted lots of visitors each year. In order to meet the high demand of tourists in their country, the country has resorted to using technology to create their traditional souvenirs and artefacts that represent their country. Machines are more efficient than the human workforce, and thus people are losing their jobs against technology. Traditional skills would be lost, and mass production would lead to a loss of culture. Hence, it is essential to expose students to both the humanities and the sciences as technology, a form of science, is like a double-edged sword, efficient to mankind, and yet indirectly affects our culture.
Medicine is another form of science available in our world. “It is both an area of knowledge, a science of body system and their diseases and treatment.” 7 A rising industry in every nation, medicine can cure illness, boost immunities, provide extra nutrients and vitamins that the body can't produce or consume on a daily diet. One important form of medicinal sciences, is biomedical sciences. “Without the use of biomedical science it would be very difficult for accident case victims to be administered treatment or even for operation theatres to function properly”8 Singapore pushes for the rise of biomedical sciences since 2006, and since then, this industry has become one of the key pillars for its success. “Currently, 11 of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have invested in more than 25 manufacturing facilities in Singapore, with seven new plants expected to open in the next three years.” 9 This industry is able to boost economic growth in Singapore, and thus propel Singapore to success.
However, medicine isn’t just solely drugs. Not all parts of medicine requires science, it can be a form of art too. “Medical Humanities is an interdisciplinary exploration of how the humanities disciplines can engage and illuminate the nature, goals and practice of medicine.” 10 An example of Medical Humanities is Psychology. The research of Psychology is the study of how people think, behave, and react. Counsellors work alongside their patients, through constant communication, to try and diagnose their main cause of problem. Hence, medicine isn’t solely just a science, some aspects of it requires humanities. Thus, it is important for students to be exposed to both the humanities and the sciences.

REFERENCES:
2 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/12330
3 http://obscureandconfused.blogspot.sg/2007/01/difference-between-science-and.html
4http://www3.moe.edu.sg/cpdd/alevel2006/experience/exp.htm
5 http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/clickers-classroom-active-learning-approach
6 Scott Bevins (2002) STEM: Moving the Liberal Arts Education into the 21st century. Paragraph 11 lines 6-9.
7 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/480726
8 http://www.biomed-singapore.com/biomedical-science-and-its-importance-in-the-field-of-medicine/ 9 http://worksingapore.com/articles/industry_2.php 10 http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/departments/medicine/ClinicalImmunology/Pages/MedicalHumanities.aspx