Empathy is the ability to feel how another feels, understand why they feel that way, and have concern for them.
In the past, people believed empathy was a thing you were born with or without, but in reality, it is something that is taught.
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Concerningly, Americans are losing empathy. In a study conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, researchers found that college students were 40 per cent less empathetic than they were in 1979.
This study is over 10 years old, and we have no updated research as to if Americans are feeling more or less empathetic today, but when we look around and see the divides in people over mask mandates, the Black Lives Matter movement, and COVID-19, we can infer that there is still an empathy deficit.
Amber Karlins is an award-winning writer and editor from Tampa Bay, Florida and works at Lake-Sumter State College as an English instructor. In regards to empathy, Karlins says it's more than a deficit, it’s an empathy crisis.
“It has serious implications, not only for education but for the future of our country as a whole,” she stated in her 2016 TEDx Talk. “If we want to raise a generation of children and students who will do something about the violence in our culture then we must address the empathy crisis.”
Karlins says the problem should be solved through education.
“Much of what we’re doing in education right now not only does absolutely nothing to help with the development of empathy in students, it’s actually hindering its development because of the increased focus on STEM.”
STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, is very important to teach in schools. This is because it helps develop analytical thinking in students. However, a decade ago scientists discovered a large cortical network in our brains, allowing them to analyze how different tasks push the brain in different directions. In a study done by Case Western University, it was found that this cortical network prevents us from being both analytic and empathetic at the same time.
With schools focusing on analytic thinking, people are at risk of overdeveloping that part of the brain, resulting in them being more analytical than empathetic in their thinking. However, schools can teach students to be empathetic, and Karlins says that more focus on the arts is the way to do this.
A Stanford University neuropsychologist, Jamil Zaki, says he views different forms of art as an empathy boot camp. Karlins used his research to explain herself further.
“They [arts] provide us with a safe place from which to explore the experiences and the emotions of another person whose life may be very different from our own, and this is true across a wide variety of artistic platforms.”
She stated that studies have shown that reading fiction and studying fine art can elevate a person’s empathy. When the LA County School District added dance classes to their curriculum, 66 per cent of principals reported that their students were more accepting of one another and 88 per cent of students said they had begun treating each other better, following the first 20 dance sessions.
STEM teaches students to be logical, but art teaches students to be more accepting and compassionate. Going forward, we need to have equal focus on these two types of thinking in schools so that our future generations may be more empathetic with each other and heal our divided world.