Missing the Point on STEM Shortages

Someone has to shoot down Hal Salzman’s recent opinion piece in US News, if just for the sake of good policy debate.  Here goes…

Under the headline “STEM Grads Are at a Loss,” Salzman argues that the United States is actually over training for STEM careers, and that graduates with PhD’s and engineering degrees increasingly face limited job prospects.  His figures show “ample supply (of workers), stagnant wages and, by industry accounts, thousands of applicants for any advertised job.”  

Salzman’s data (see Issues in Science and Technology) is valuable, but the conclusions are misleading.  Salzman takes sides in a debate about immigration policy regarding guest worker visas, which many tech companies rely upon to access a lower cost, international hiring pool.  Salzman’s claim is that the US provides enough skilled STEM employees, and should not dilute its workforce with expanded parameters for H-1B visas. 

Salzman’s conclusion on immigration might or might not be true, but his argument is overly aggressive and risks damage to American efforts to educate young engineers and scientists.  In my last post (WhyYour Child Needs A STEM Class In Elementary School) I argued that schools are not doing enough to train students for STEM careers, and that high-tech education should start as young as possible.  Like Second Grade!  

Based upon Salzman’s conclusions, educational leaders might rest contented that they are providing enough trained workers.  No need for additional programs, teacher training or materials.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

As the founder of Tech EdVentures, I’ve met front-line educators in dozens of Dallas area public schools that are well managed and superbly funded.  Most of the schools I’ve visited offer STEM education as an add-on, a club or a once-a-week elective.  Think of this as “a sprinkling of STEM” to season the main course of language arts, math and science.  But what if STEM should be the main course, the meat and potatoes of our children’s education?  We are rationing access to skills that have the potential to change lives and drive economic advancement.  We need to double our knowledge base several times over, not hold steady, as Salzman’s argument might imply.

The biggest problem of Salzman’s argument is his mindset about how individuals create value.  He assumes that large companies and public institutions are the engine that drives economic success.  Not so!  Our economic future is brightest when we cultivate a large cadre of inventors and entrepreneurs.  Design and programming skills help shape a mindset in which individuals are empowered to make disruptive changes.  The heart of STEM education is the belief that individuals and small teams have the power to re-shape their world.  And that is precisely why we need aggressive efforts to train young students to build, design, engineer and code.  These students won’t go off to private companies to seek work.  They will found their own startups.  And then they’ll hire others.

When all is said and done, Salzman’s addition to the policy debate is helpful.  But the take-away for educators is off key.  We still need engineering labs for second graders, and we need them yesterday.

Allen Selis, Founding Director
Tech EdVentures

Support Tech EdVentures 
By like-ing our FB page.      

Cross posted from the Addison Treehouse blog.

The Treehouse is a new co-working space, geared towards 
startups and young companies.  Check them out...