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The article reminds me of some of the pundits of the past like Lewis 
Perelman (School's Out, 1992), who foresaw the demise of the obsolete ways 
we prepare students for the world of work and how technology was going to 
sweep through and eliminate traditional education. Only in this treatise, 
the problem is that we don't prepare students for the global collaborative 
economy, and how our parents do not encourage us to go into science and 
engineering careers. What is conspicuously absent is anything about the 
effects of the economic side of technology and science on the perception 
and value or science and engineering workers. With the commoditization and 
capitalization of all things science and engineering, we have lost sight 
of their inspirational and creative aspects. Yes, test scores are rising, 
likely due to ferociously expanded emphasis on test prep at the expense of 
teaching real science. Yes, there are probably enough engineers and 
scientists to fill jobs, but the research and corporate entities cherry 
pick strands of reasearch which will result in the most profits. Part of 
maximizing profits is outsourcing and hiring cheap labor, primarily from 
third world countries. They don't talk in the article about how profits 
are rising dramatically as companies try to outcompete each other for the 
most productive practices (aka, lowest wages, which for most middle class 
earners in the U.S. are stagant or falling). When I lived in SV, I was 
friends with a number of the people these firms hired and fired, due to 
moving operations overseas. So when a parent tells their kids they should 
be avoiding engineering and science, it is partly because the engineers 
and scientists are not valued, the entrepreneurs are. They know that at 
some point all the struggle to get through engineering school or earning a 
Ph.D. will come down to having their job "outsourced." 

So, once again, it looks like it is up to science centers to fill the gap. 
More than ever kids need to understand the ramifications of technology 
science and math on post-modern life, how to apply their curiousity and 
inquisitiveness to solving the real problems of the world (which the 
article does point out at the very end), which often require them to go 
against the prevailing mindset for quick profits. If we can help inspire 
the next generation of thinkers in spite of the current flowing against 
us, we have done them justice. It would be interesting to hear from people 
on the list about what they think are the most pressing human and 
environmental needs which science centers are addressing or should be 
addressing. How can we do a better job of preparing the future generations 
to fix the problems we are creating? Rather than just teach them about the 
technology and science research that has already been done.







Business Week article: no STEM shortage?

Eric Siegel 
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ISEN-ASTC-L
10/28/07 07:21 PM


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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
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institutions.
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Hello, all:

This is a contrarian and thought-provoking article from Business Week 
citing a recently published Urban Institute study. This study argues 
that the data suggesting a shortage in well-educated American 
scientists, mathematicians, and engineers is based on flawed 
methodology; that more engineers and scientists are created than can 
be absorbed by the job market; that American students do not lag 
their international peers; and that the average amount of math and 
science taken in high school have risen significantly in the past 
decade.  The article's author is "Executive in Residence" at Duke 
University, and an entrepeneur who was born in Delhi, India and came 
to the United States in 1980. He holds a B.A. degree in computer 
science from Canberra University in Australia and a Master's degree 
in Business Administration from New York University.

The authors' own summary of their study is available at http:// 
www.urban.org/publications/1001094.html


Eric Siegel
Director and
Chief Content Officer
New York Hall of Science
www.nyscience.org
(718) 699-0005 x 317
esiegel at nyscience dot org

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