STEM Education: How Can We Compete with the World?

The 21st century and its push for technology development has forced our nation’s schools to pay more attention to preparing our students for the future. It is no surprise that technology is one of the leading career trends in the world with the development increasing exponentially each year. With the increase in technology, we are also gaining more knowledge and advancements in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. The development for these areas is critical in helping the United States to compete among the world. In a 2006 study performed by the Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that fifteen year olds in the United States ranked twenty-fifth in math proficiency and twenty-first in science proficiency out of the thirty countries used in the study. Even more recently, a study conducted in August 2011 by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance suggests that the gap is increasing and the United States is falling further behind. The study, “Globally Challenged: Are U.S. Students Ready to Compete?” stated that the United States has fallen to thirty-second in math proficiency compared to the rest of the world.

How did it come to this? The United States has always been considered to be in the forefront of technology and science. We were the first to put the man on the moon, were we not? The problem is that when you are at the top in a competitive world, other countries learn from your methods and find ways to perfect them. For too long the United States has been complacent in their efforts in the areas of science and technology, allowing the rest of the world to simply catch up. Now that we are no longer the leaders in these areas, we are making a vested interest in how to regain our status as a world leader. To correct this problem, U.S. leaders must first progress the intellectual know-how of the current leaders of STEM, keep these jobs within our country (and not outsourcing them), and develop future leaders to steer us into the future. Initiatives must be undertaken to concentrate on educating the students from kindergarten through graduate school in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These subjects will be a necessity for the future of most jobs and the success of our country as a whole.

Not only are we sure that these four subjects will be relevant for the future economy, they also are some of the highest paying career paths as well. We know that those figures will continue its trend as we continue to make improvements in science and technology in the future. We know that science and math are the foundations needed for increased productivity and the enhancement of the Technological Age. These are just some of the benefits in continually motivating students to continue within one of these career paths. With more educated individuals in these fields, we will have a greater chance to find breakthroughs in various fields of science and technology. Thus the nation will profit from the advancements. We can set the trend that other countries will use and develop. In addition, the more advancement we have will create more jobs in helping establish these global methods.

The problem we are facing is how to coach our children towards these career paths and be successful. Right now, students lack the advanced or even adequate instruction needed to excel in these areas, and as a consequence, they will be less likely to become masters of STEM subject matter and therefore will not be able to teach a new generation to become leaders in STEM subjects. As we see in many public schools, students are being taught the more complex sciences, such as chemistry and physics, by a teacher who may only have a degree in biology. A push must be made to train educators today with the proper material to help teach the leaders of tomorrow. We must also allocate more money into the educational practices that will help students succeed in these areas. First and foremost, we need to make a push for greater use of technology in all of our schools. If we are truly going to be factors in the world tomorrow, we need to provide the knowledge and expertise to the children of today.