10.28.09
Education Week: STEM Defection Seen to Occur After High School- Here is one reason
Education Week: STEM Defection Seen to Occur After High School.
The late Gerald Gracey told us in his most recent book reveals what has been going on. In his book, “Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality”, he mentions a quote from science writer Dan Greenberg who explained it this way from his 2007 article in The Chronicle of Higher Learning entitled, “No Mystery Why Americans shun Science Careers.”
Why are so many science jobs and student slots in the U.S. filled with foreigners? For the same reason jobs in the lettuce fields and apple orchards are filled by foreigners. Many qualified Americans shun science because, far more then the drum beaters for research let on, science can be a risky, unrewarding career choice… No amount of improved high school science is going to fix this problem, which is essentially economic. A doubling of salaries and improved conditions for getting ahead is a scientific career would bring in many American recruits. But that’s not going to happen. Despite the glorification of science, the marketplace sets the value and the price. Which is why foreigners flock to our schools and labs while Americans seeks their fortunes in other fields.