Monday Quickie – We Must Act NOW to Uplift STEM Education

Avoiding Autopilot

This week I’ll have the opportunity to participate in an impactful event here in Irvine, CA covering women in medical device leadership.  With this being the 3rd annual event, the team putting it together was concerned primarily with how we would pull off the event and do so while keeping the content fresh and appealing.  Needless to say when you’ve done something twice its really easy to have the 3rd end up on autopilot.  Just ask Al Pacino, he’ll know exactly what you’re talking about as a result of Godfather III. (my first of many digressions in this article)

While we had a great topic to address, ‘Successfully Addressing Conflict Resolution & Crisis Management in the Workplace’, the team agreed we were missing something from the event.  Missing something to make this 3rd event really special.  It was during this time one of our strategic partners, Society of Women in Engineering, or SWE, suggested we offer a scholarship for female STEM students as a part of the event.

We loved the idea and since our organization, DeviceAlliance, had yet to do a scholarship program it was a great way to give back to the local community we serve while also providing a unique experience for the event attendees.

As we dove into the creation of this scholarship program, which would later be called ‘OC Exceptional Female STEM Student Scholarship Award’, we learned a lot of interesting stats having to do with our country’s STEM education programs.  Some of those STEM stats were good yet many of them were disheartening to say the least.

While I knew what STEM education was I must admit I wasn’t familiar with the actual programs, how it operated and what the results were.  As I began to dig for details to educate myself on this part of academia, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the information I was finding.
STEM education in the US is struggling.

I found this really hard to believe.  How can such an amazing program have such mediocre to poor results.  I learned things like:

1. Of 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US ranks 30th in math and 19th in science, according to Pew Research
2. 78% of high school graduates don't meet benchmark readiness for one or more college courses in mathematics, science, reading, or English, according to the Smithsonian Science Education Center
3. It was projected that 2.4 million STEM jobs went unfilled in 2018, according to Smithsonian Science Education Center

These stats are frightening and only the beginning of the landslide of poor outcomes and frustrating data plaguing STEM education.  One could easily deduce from this information our country’s efforts to produce a successful STEM education program for the up and coming generations is failing.  Perhaps, failing miserably.

I wasn’t willing to accept that.  Just because the stats may not be in our favor doesn’t mean STEM isn’t a good opportunity.  In fact, I look at it the opposite way.  Sure, STEM education reform would almost certainly help our country however in the wake of misfortune opportunity can always be found.

Fortunately, the future for STEM isn’t so doom and gloom, it’s all a matter of how we address the opportunity at hand.  Let’s look at some other stats related to STEM:

1. In 2012, the median earnings for workers in science and engineering occupations (regardless of education level or field) were $78,270, more than double the median ($34,750) for all U.S. workers.
2. Between 2017 and 2027, the number of STEM jobs in the US will grow 13 percent, compared to 9 percent for non-STEM jobs
3. There is a giant opportunity for women and minorities to flourish in STEM related work fields; there are thousands of scholarships and academic programs which have been created to encourage and entice women and minorities to join STEM education; the same is true for many top companies which rely on technical talent and the programs they have to hire and onboard such talent

Yes, the academic side of STEM may be struggling in the US.  Yes, we’re pumping a lot of money into STEM and we’re still behind many 1st and even 2nd world countries in terms of our scoring and performance in STEM.

Yet there’s one thing for certain you just can’t argue – technology is only going to increase as time goes on.  This means the demand for STEM educated students will continue to be both important and a key driver of our economy.  Rather than focusing on the bad, I see it as a chance to focus on the good and the potential growth in STEM education in front of us here in the States.

So how do we address the issue of a struggling domestic STEM education program so that we can get more students through it and into the workforce?
The answer in my opinion is two-fold:

1. Industry needs to get more involved guiding both our government, including its respective politicians, as well as academia to help them understand what is needed in the workforce and just as important how to successfully get students there through robust programs which use heavy amounts of real-world educational applications and not just theory found in a textbook
2. Older generations (in particular parents) need to take the time to educate younger generations at a very early age on STEM and as they grow continuing that education on the opportunities in the workforce which come from STEM educations; our work as parents, coaches, advisors and mentors doesn’t end there, we must stick by them through the process encouraging and supporting our STEM students through to graduation

While those two answers may be wildly simple and perhaps naïve on a big scale it’s hard to argue one key fact: technology is here to stay; the jobs of the future will largely be focused and depend on emerging technology. 

As technology continues to advance it brings us opportunity, how we and the generations to come choose to take advantage of that opportunity, well that’s still yet to be seen.  It’s vital we act NOW to uplift our country’s STEM education programs while encouraging our youth to reach for those opportunities.

I’m proud to be a part of a non-profit team which recognizes the importance of STEM education and just as important is doing something in our local community to encourage and support those students who are chasing their dreams in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math.

Key Take Away:
The US STEM education system is getting the pants beat off it by other countries which have placed a high priority in technology and science based education.  While this seems bad on the surface it also reveals a lot of opportunity ahead of us, with plenty of employment opportunities with nice salaries and upward mobility.  Industry and older generations (in particular parents) need to get involved earlier and more frequent to ensure the up and coming generations are able to take advantage of the opportunities at hand.

Action Item:
Think about how you land within these two areas: industry and adulting.  If you don’t have kids how can you educate people younger than you about the opportunities STEM produces?  If you do have kids introducing them at a young age to these possibilities is crucial, not just for their development but for our country as a whole.  From an industry perspective, challenge yourself and your company to get further involved with the local colleges and universities in your area.  Seek out STEM education programs to ingratiate them into your company, help to drive awareness, sponsor projects and competitions.   The more we get involved the better of we and those to come after us will be.
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