I'll start by giving an improvement I've thought of:<p>Combine trade schools and STEM into one institution and remove the humanities from it and make it so that you can start specializing earlier (having more trades and college-level math and science in high school) and make it so that you can do a law or medical degree instead of having to do a pre-law or pre-med degree.
The problem is, much more of a STEM career involves <i>people</i> than you would expect. In my 20s, I didn't care. People got in the way; science and technology were what mattered! Now I know better. People <i>really matter</i>.<p>Humanities might help people get that. (Don't ask me whether they will, I CLEPed out of mine.) I don't know if an intro-to-anything humanities class can give STEM people what they need. I do know, however, that STEM people need <i>something</i>.