Replies

According to joboutlook.com, the top salaries for a student graduating with a 4 year degree go to the engineering students - as your chart shows. 5 out of the top 10 jobs in demand are also engineering jobs (ie., those students getting multiple job offers upon graduation). So, there is plenty of financial motivation for students to go into engineering or the hard sciences.

I think it's the state of our education that is causing kids to shy away from the harder subjects. Sadly, most of our kids aren't capable of doing higher level math or physics in high school. So, of course they stick with the easier subjects in college.

Here is some scary information that I've compiled to try to motivate my students to pursue engineering/hard science degrees:

Engineering Statistics

*From 1992-2002 the California public universities number of bachelor degrees increased by 11%. The number of degrees in math, physical science, and engineering decreased by 8%.

*Less than 6% of our high school seniors plan to pursue engineering degrees, down 36% from a decade ago.

*In 2000, 56% of China's undergraduate degrees were in the hard sciences; in the U.S., it was 17%

*Japan, with half our population, has graduated double the number of engineers in recent years than we have.

*If present trends continue, 90% of all the world's scientists and engineers will live in Asia by 2010.

*A decade ago, American companies were granted 10,000 more patents than foreign countries. That margin is down to 4000 now with six of the top ten companies being foreign.

*Although we're still a magnet for international students, applications to our universities from foreign students have dropped by 45% from China and 28% from India, as those countries develop their top universities.

*And lastly, according to Bill Gates, "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I'm terrified for our workforce of tomorrow."