Posted on 07/26/2016 11:08:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
(Editors’ note: This column is co-authored by Chris MacFarland)
New, robust partnerships between the public and private sectors are needed today to attract and educate the young scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians for tomorrow.
A stem is the main trunk of a plant, and STEM — short for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — is the main trunk of our economy.
A plant that gets too little water will fail to grow. Unfortunately, that’s also what’s happening to STEM education in our country today.
We’re simply failing to attract and educate a sufficient number of young scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians. Demand for these workers is growing fast, but our pool of talent isn’t.
The situation is especially perplexing, given that a career in STEM would seem to be highly attractive. Consider:
· Demand for STEM jobs is growing fast. Jobs across all occupations are forecast to increase by only 14 percent between 2010 and 2020. By contrast, jobs in biomedical engineering are expected to increase during that same period by 62 percent. In medical science, jobs are expected to grow during that period by 36 percent. And in systems software development, to grow by 32 percent.
· STEM jobs pay well. The average wage for all STEM occupations in the United States is $85,570. That’s nearly twice the average for all occupations.
· STEM is an equal-opportunity employer. Women with STEM jobs earn 33 percent more than those in non-STEM occupations. They also experience a smaller wage gap relative to men.
Despite these positive benefits, interest in STEM careers is limited. The U.S. government now expects that 2.4 million STEM jobs will remain unfilled by 2018. And only 16 percent of our high-school seniors are proficient in math and interested in a STEM career. As a result, the STEM job gap does not appear likely to be bridged anytime soon.
A for Effort
However, we can’t blame the STEM challenge on a lack of concern or effort. In fact, a myriad of schools, government bodies, corporations and non-profit organizations have been trying for years to close the STEM gap. They’ve conducted studies, awarded grants, held contests with valuable prizes, even run technology summer camps for inner-city kids. Yet despite all this well-meaning work -- not to mention the literally hundreds of millions of dollars these efforts have collectively cost -- the nation’s STEM gap is expected to be serious.
What’s wrong? We believe many of these efforts, while certainly well-intentioned, have missed the mark. For example, too many of our university business schools still teach the traditional subjects of accounting, finance and economics. Instead, they need to focus on STEM topics such as information technology, cybersecurity and analytics.
But that’s not all. We’re convinced that too much STEM emphasis has been placed on older university students. Instead, we need to capture the interest of students who are much younger --ideally, youngsters in elementary and middle schools. We also need more effective STEM programs that reach out directly to girls and members of minorities, both of whom are disproportionately underrepresented in technical and scientific job markets.
What’s Needed Now
So what’s the solution? We believe what’s needed is a much stronger alliance between our nation’s business leaders and its educators -- and not just at the university and college levels, but also in our K-12 schools.
To be sure, there have been some early and laudable efforts. For example:
· Intel has committed $300 million to STEM education. This supplier of microprocessors and other computing gear is focusing on K-12 and college classes in previously underserved regions.
· Microsoft is this summer offering free workshops at some of its retail stores. These programs, some of which are being offered to children as young as 8 years old, teach kids how to have fun writing software code.
But more is still needed. Otherwise, our schools will continue to operate in a vacuum, and the STEM gap will widen.
Industry executives, educators and philanthropists must solve this issue by working together. Companies need to get involved with their local schools, too. Masergy is helping to lead the way with a new scholarship program that will help students earn STEM-related degrees. Masergy engineers have also volunteered in Plano, TX area schools. With a challenge this big, this stubborn, and this important, we all need to do our part.
This article is a macro (not micro) agression on Dorkbama the Muslim Eunoch, all liberal members of congress, all SJW cretins, and the MSM, since none of those idiots could pass the STEM freshmen courses, let alone the hard stuff.
Why work your tail off for a “STEM” degree when they’re only going to off-shore your job before you even get your student loans paid off?
In other words: We’ve tapped out the public taxpayer for money, now we are targeting businesses to give us even more money.
Did Allen West start a new nonprofit? This is an unusual subject for him
They completely killed off the Healthcare sector, now they need to suck the blood out of a new victim.
Look out Engineers!
80% of STEM graduates do not work in the STEM world for more than 5 years and half never do AT ALL! Why? BECAUSE THE JOBS ARE NOT THERE!!! And we import thousands who are willing to work for very little compared to the going rates of just a few years ago. I graduated with engineering degrees 20 years ago and the starting rates are essentially within a few thousand dollars.
yes, public private ‘partnerships’ (meaning a government hand in your education)
Because government is so much wiser then everyone else.
I wonder how much time students working towards engineering degrees have while they are protesting and demanding safe spaces? It has to be a distraction.
Then again, engineering students are probably too busy for the silliness and are probably busy keeping their noses to the grindstone as all students should be doing.
The first step toward teaching science is teaching the Scientific Method.
That will never fly, because it would be too obvious which “sciences” don’t follow it.
A lot of it is cultural. It ain’t cool to work too hard in school.
This is BS. Ask recent STEM graduates about their jobs, and they’ll tell you about enormous downwards wage pressure from H1B hires.
Is There a STEM Worker Shortage?
America Has More Trained STEM Graduates than STEM Job Openings
During the sixties protests there was a joke where I went to school.
At Columbia, the students took over the ROTC building.
At Berkeley, the students occupied the Dean’s office.
At Newark College of Engineering, the students were too busy studying.
Nobody who actually works in STEM could honestly say there is a ‘STEM shortage’.
Or just import a HB-1 that you will have to train in your job.
These are traditionally male interests.
Males are & have been chased out of higher education by the Fembots.
This is a byproduct of MGTOW.
One good point made in this article - preparations for an education and career in STEM need to start at least by the beginning of high school, when a student gets to choose courses. University-prep math is a must. Depending on the field one wishes to pursue, physics, chemistry and biology are also required. For example I knew years earlier that I had no interest in the life sciences, so I skipped biology, but the other three were prerequisites for engineering. High school chemistry is typically a prereq for university chemistry, and likewise for physics. Engineers need both - and biology too if they think they might want to pursue studies and a career in biotechnology.
If a student has these prerequisites (and decent grades in them, of course), pretty much any course of study in University is open to them, from arts and education, physics, chemistry, biology, to graduate subjects like law, medicine, dentistry, nursing (yes, even nursing requires a background in the sciences).
Exactly and it is still true today.
Unless a person was brilliant and can party into the wee hours and skip classes and exams to attend a protest marches, your typical engineering student is too busy.
One of two points that I was going to make.
My other point: The STEM classrooms at the universities around here are stuffed with foreign nationals (predominately Red Chinese) and there aren't many seats available for Americans, particularly straight white male Americans.
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