In his March 9 A View from the Q blog post, titled Encourage the Next Generation of STEM Professionals, ASQ CEO, Bill Troy indicates: “Businesses can play an important role in helping to encourage the next generation of STEM professionals.” This month, ASQ CEO Bill Troy challenges the ASQ Influential Voices bloggers to “step up to the plate” with regard to encouraging students to pursue a STEM education.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. A
STEM-related program in education prepares students for professions in these
important fields. Why the emphasis on
STEM? According to sources
the U.S. has a shortage of STEM skills and many STEM-related jobs go unfilled.
These sources
add that...
wages have grown relatively fast in most STEM-oriented occupations, which
is a clear indication of a shortage. From 2000 to 2013, analyzing Bureau of
Labor Statistics data and adjusting for inflation, median salaries for workers
in computer and mathematical, health care practitioner, engineering, and
science occupations rose 8 percent, 7 percent, 6 percent and 5 percent
respectively, even as those for the average U.S. worker showed no growth.
This rise in STEM-related salaries underscore the role of
the free market with regard to this shortage of STEM educated graduates.
Salaries are increasing which should work to encourage more students to seek a
STEM education. This, however, may not be enough to attract today’s students to
gain a STEM education.
A STEM education may not be fun enough for today’s students.
According to The Princeton
Review, the top 10 college majors are 1) Business Administration, 2) Psychology,
3) Nursing, 4) Biology/Biological Science, 5) Education, 6) English/Literature,
7) Economics, 8) Communications, 9) Political Science, and 10) Computer and
Information Sciences. The Princeton
Review warns “…that these are not necessarily the degrees that garner the
most demand in the job market.” Note that only one of these top 10 majors is purely
STEM-related.
What can quality professionals do to advance the STEM
agenda? Those who advocate for STEM have done so by organizing STEM conferences
and writing STEM-related books and articles. More could and should be done to
advance the STEM agenda. If you are a parent who is so inclined, I would
encourage you to expose your young, school-age children to extracurricular activities
such as Science Olympia, Odyssey of the Mind, and Math Counts. Don’t have young,
school-age children? You can volunteer
to judge a local event or to help coach students at your local school. Exposing our youth to these activities could help
them see that science and math can be fun.
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