Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
by Jim Mathews
In the future there will be more engineers needed to keep up
with the demands the United States work force. In the past, engineers were
usually considered high level math and science geeks and were not involved in
any social activities other than something that resembles a corporate party.
The poster engineer were usually men, very few woman and most kids of that time
were not thinking of a career looking at a computer screen. The truth of the
matter is engineering is more than a glorified draftsman or architect.
The field of engineering originally was divided in to four
major groups, Mechanical, Chemical, Civil and Electrical. With the increase of
technology there has been a few more added such as Management, and
Geotechnical, and literally hundreds of different subcategories in each group.
The question of the day is where are all of these people for these type of jobs
going to come from.
Immigration laws allow for corporations to hire outside when
there is no one to fill the positions the US. Although there is a lot of
controversy over the amount of legal immigration, which is about one million
per year, by 2018 there will be 230,000 STEM related jobs requiring advanced
degrees.
Looking to the future of our children, the US finds itself
in a bind with the level of education and how it compares to the rest of the
world. After the Program for International Assessment came out leaving the USA
in the position of 36th in math and 28th in science, the
question still stands, how do we get our children to the level where we can
reduce our dependency on immigration. The answer to that question has to be to
reach more people at an early age.
Children develop their passions for career choices in early
development. As parents, we try to expose our interests, environmental
interests, what is available and within our children’s reach. In order to
increase the amount of interest in STEM related activities, and not allow
traditional stereotypes to interfere with choices.
The internet is full of fun projects to include the Ymath.org
website. Being active with your child at an early age and purposely exposing
them to STEM activities will help to inspire them and hopefully, as a country
we can meet the demands of the future.
How are you inspiring your child? Are they asking questions
and trying to resolve the answer with help from you? Please reply with your
comments about this blog.
