The M in STEM Doesn’t Stand for Men
Whether it peaks your interest or not there is no doubt that the STEM field plays a major role in your society and is very important. Those four letters stand for science, technology, engineering, and math, and they are the driving force of new discoveries and innovations that lead to new products and processes that sustain our economy. STEM education creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators. However, despite the interest I have always had for science and math, I was never introduced to the field of engineering or even knew that I could consider a career in anything other than health services until near the end of my senior year of high school. Growing up, I was always told to be either a doctor or lawyer. Since I knew being a lawyer was not going to happen, I chose the health field. My mom and relatives would tell me that if I thought becoming a doctor was too much work, I could always go into nursing or pharmacy, or do something lighter, like accounting. My mom, like most of my aunts, does not have a college degree due to factors that she could not control. Being from Vietnam, she was only taught life skills and how to be a good housewife and a mother. She doesn’t think that I will end up keeping and focusing on my career when I grow up, because
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My friend and I were applying to colleges at the same time, so we would swap and edit each other’s essays, and while reading his essay about engineering, the subject caught my eye. I asked him what engineering was and what they do, since I’ve only really ever heard the term by the few people I know that want to be engineers. After doing some intensive research on the field and the different kinds of engineering that best suits me, I realized that it was perfect and I decided that I wanted to go into chemical
Being raised in a very STEM-centric family, I began to realize the importance of STEM at an early age from spending time with my parents during school breaks. My mother is a professor of electrical engineering at Georgia Tech and my father is a civil engineer who works for Georgia Power. I played around with Scratch and small robots when I was very young, spending a lot of time at Georgia Tech. What we, humans, can create fascinates me. I
Today’s college students have the opportunity and freedom to choose their major and their career path. Many factors influence the decision of a college student’s career paths including background, general interests, personal strengths, time commitment, and job outlook. Although many important decisions are made in college, one of the most important is the choice of major and career track. Out of hundreds of majors the science and engineering fields are under-represented by women. Although the numbers of women in science technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM, majors has been increasing in the past years, women still are in the minority in the STEM fields. In her study, Lona Whitmarsh
I am very much interested in the field of engineering and hope to pursue a career in engineering sometime in the future. Although I haven’t decided which branch of engineering I want to pursue yet, my experiences as an engineering magnet student at Wheaton High school and the different engineering programs I am a part of have ignited within me a passion for engineering.
My mom has always supported my life choices even if she does not condone them. But know comes the time in my life where I need to make choice and decisions on my own. As much as I hate to say it I'm growing up and my parents are not always going to be there to help me through my life. Even though both careers are a passion I have dealing with critical thinking and a creative mind, I have decided I want to be a homicide detective. Even though a criminologist is a wonderful job in dealing with psychology it did not have enough substance to keep me happy in my job for the rest if my life. Now that I have made a very important choice in my life by myself I feel as more challenges come my way I will handle them by myself, It’s time to grow up and make my own life
Michael S. Teitelbaum argues in his report, “ The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage” that while it may be true that there is an increase in STEM jobs in the US, the fact is for the majority of STEM jobs the wages have been stagnant or declining, indicating that there is no demand for STEM graduates. Teitelbaum continues by stating that it is very simple to claim there is a shortage in STEM by hand-picking specialized fields in STEM that may currently have a shortage due to location and specific years, as a result of changing technology, But to state that all STEM related occupations are experiencing a shortage because a few specialized fields are experiencing a shortage is dangerous as it paints a false a narrative of reality to pursuers’ of STEM degrees. In addition when comparing the unemployment rate of occupations such as registered nurses, physicians, dentists, and lawyers to occupations in STEM, that proponents of STEM have valiantly claimed are experiencing a massive shortage, the unemployment for STEM occupations is staggering. With recent graduates suffering the most with unemployment rates in engineering and computer science above seven percent, as well as an unemployment rate hovering slightly below twelve percent for graduates in information systems ( Teitelbaum). Teitelbaum states that while it may be true that the US is consistently scoring in the middle in international assessments, they are still producing a third of all high-performing students in science and fourteen percent of high-performing students in math. In addition, he states he is not against the push for science and math, as he believes all high school students should be adept in both, but that there is “a big disconnect between this broad educational imperative and
This article explains how STEM is much more important than liberal arts, which I feel is not the case. In my preservative, all majors are equally important and all hold such a big influence on society. Engineer's contributed greatly to society, so do English majors and plenty
51 percent of the United States is female but only 34.4 percent of doctors are women. While 90.4 percent of nurses are female (“Women in Medicine”; “Male Nurses Becoming”), the women who do become doctors earn an astounding 25 percent less than their male counterparts (Groves). These staggering figures are only a single piece in the larger overall lack of women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which has remained prevalent since the beginning of these fields. Although women are underrepresented in these STEM fields, this is not due to ineptitude, but instead it is a result of the force of societal stereotypes coupled with their wider range of abilities. The recent increase in women’s association with STEM seems
As I mentioned in my first essay, I wish to pursue a career in either the medical field or technologies that contribute to the medical field. Both interests deal directly with STEM. STEM is a gateway for me to live my dreams and succeed in a field that is difficult to enter without the correct steps taken and references known. Majoring in STEM would provide me the education and contacts needs to enter the medical or technological field at an advantage. I believe that STEM is truly a resource that allows students to focus on their studies more intently and unearth his/her passions in an academic world. For myself personally, STEM would help me to narrow down the fields of medicine and technology to the precise profession that suits my interests. Likewise, in a world that is creating new careers daily, STEM is one of the few pathways that adapts to the growing diversity of options, and facilitates ubiquitous knowledge for success no matter the circumstance. To me, that means that I can reach my hand into the currently unknown world and create my own course of action with certainty that I will meet success along my way. There is no better way to enjoy life, than to find a passion and chase after it, and I conclude that STEM will allow me to do
This report navigates the current state of STEM demographic in the country. It examines the reasons why there are less females undertaking STEM majors and gives recommendations on the problems. A brief history on STEM is outlined and the discussion follows with in depth analysis on the subject. STEM is a very critical education discipline with an importance in the economy of the country. Much as it is important, few students choose a career path in STEM. Although, there are more than 50% female students in Colleges and Universities, 12% take STEM related course. Why is this? This report is a compilation of empirical data collected in journals on the same subject explaining
STEM jobs can help the environment, people around them, and even the entire world. Doctors help heal the sick and wounded, scientist create cures for viruses and create new technologies, and firefighters fight fires, and plumbers unclog plumbing. All these STEM jobs help people. Does hitting a home run save a life? Does being in a movie help cure cancer? Does singing on stage fight a fire? No, the ones who does this work are the ones that chose a path in STEM.
Science education has been a controversial topic among employers and schools for years. Employers are requesting more STEM graduates yet the schools are unable to keep up with the rising demand. Unemployment rates continue to go up while positions in the science, technology, and engineering fields have remained open and unfulfilled. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is vital to the position of the United States in the world standings in STEM research and design. Currently 3 of the 5 top positions in STEM research are held by Asian countries and sadly the United States doesn’t even fall in the top 10 for the list. There was once a time when the United States led the world in STEM research, but times have
STEM and society whether you think or not have very much in common. The real world has more than millions of opportunities. STEM projects reflect on some of the real world things you will do as a professional in whatever occupation you wish to assist in. The meaning of STEM is Science-Technology- Engineering- Math, which if you think about it at first is basically what the world revolves around.
In our ever evolving society we seem to be having a greater affinity to technical jobs and careers more integrated with our technology. It appears that we are heading into a world of Science, Technology , Engineering, and Mathematics or STEM. The STEM fields that are rapidly increasing relate to jobs that deal quite a bit with our newer technology and the creation and development of new and more efficient technologies. To compliment this increase in STEM careers, we need to focus our time, energy, and most of all capital on the lackluster STEM program in our school systems.
A STEM education is a necessity in the United States because the country is lacking knowledgeable people in such fields. However, one is better equipped for multiple job and career positions with the addition of a liberal arts education. It is nearly impossible to transition to different careers with only vocational training. In 2003, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development studied math and science literacy among fifteen year olds. The United States was ranked number twenty-four in math literacy (Drew 27). They are behind countries such as Finland, Slovak Republic, and Hungary. Likewise, the United States was ranked number nineteen in science literacy (Drew 27). It is obvious that the country is behind. STEM education needs to be reformed at the secondary and post-secondary levels of schooling. Katrina Trinko, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, agrees that more emphasis should be placed on STEM education; however, this emphasis should not be at the sacrifice of a good liberal arts education. She writes, “Even technology wizards can become more innovative with a solid background in liberal arts” (Trinko 6). A liberal arts education is beneficial to people in all career fields.
It is clear that STEM is a rapidly growing and advancing field that is needed for our human progression. There are so many different professions that fall under STEM education and many of them impact the world every day. According to former President Barack Obama "[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world" (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Here, former President Obama is talking about how important science is as more than just a school subject; science can be taken out of school and used to impact many people and change the world. Some may say that there have been other fields in history that became very popular but