Almost everyone understands that the most lucrative jobs for college graduates go to those with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.
The problem: There are more of these jobs than qualified candidates to fill them.
According to the just-released US News/Raytheon STEM index, the number of STEM-related jobs rose 30 percent since 2000. But STEM degrees as a percentage of total degrees have remained flat. In sum, “the education pipeline to fill the current and future jobs that will require STEM skills still isn’t producing enough talent.”
The failure isn’t so much at the universities. To be able to meet college-level requirements for STEM degrees, students need a better grounding in advanced math and science. The point is, if our children are going to take advantage of the best job opportunities, we need to raise the bar on these courses in our grade schools and high schools. If we wait until college, it’s too late.
Consider the results from the Trends in International Math and Science Study. When we look at eighth-graders, we find Singapore has four times America’s percentage of students scoring in the advanced category. Taiwan and South Korea have double. In math, the gap among eighth-graders is even higher.
Plainly, we know what jobs pay — and drive our economy. And unless we start setting higher standards, our kids won’t be in a position to take advantage of the best our colleges and universities have to offer.