Surprise! We have plenty of math/science talent coming out of high school. It’s the jobs, dummy.
There was a catch-phrase used by the staff of candidate Clinton running for his first term in office: It’s the economy, stupid. It kept campaign workers from getting distracted from the main campaign issue. Well, we might be well served by a take-off on that phrase when it comes to why more kids aren’t pursuing careers in science or math-related fields: It’s the jobs, dummy.
At least that is a conclusion that can be drawn by a recent report from Rutgers and Georgetown University researchers. They contend that there are plenty of kids talented in science and math coming out of high school, but most of them tend not to pursue advanced degrees or careers in these fields. And the reason seems to track back to a lack of career opportunities in math and science.
The authors write that the fall-off in top-performing high school grads pursuing studies in STEM “may indicate that the top high school graduates are no longer interested in STEM, but it might also indicate that a future in a STEM job is not attractive for some reason.”
You can read an Education Week write up of the report at this link, which also contains a link to the full report:
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 pm
In the 1960’s there was an extensive technical college system in Connecticut. Those technical colleges fed the design & manufacturing departments of companies in the state with new talent. The graduates got a chance to use their training to get good paying blue and white collar jobs. Now the state technical colleges are gone and so are the jobs. If we re-started the technical college system up again today, they might be ghost towns. There are not enough manufacturing companies left in the state to support enough jobs, for the number of graduates the schools at their height could produce. Sorry to say, we will never see that number of technical jobs in Connecticut again. And it’s the middle classes loss.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I am suprised to see that you editorial from the October 8th edition of the magazine is not posted on the web site. I think it should be available to all americans. I would love to be able to link it to my friends.
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