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Young NASA Challenge. Image credit: NASA/Wade Sisler.
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The STEM Initiative is a national initiative put in place to address a national problem. The issue is that we, as a nation, are falling down on the job of educating our children, most specifically in the STEM (science, technology, mathematics, and engineering) fields. With that, we, as a nation, are losing the ability of the children of our future to compete both as individuals and as a nation on an International level.
It is a big problem.
This is an across the board, as a nation, level problem. Our citizens are already falling behind educationally and with that, we are also falling behind intellectually. If that does not change soon, we will no longer be able compete scientifically or technologically. The money and economic downturns will soon follow and in very real ways, they already have. This is a time of great economic duress for our nation. Nonetheless, the economy is not our only problem and it may not be our biggest problem at all.
Although this, in very definite ways, filters to the level of individual classrooms, citizens and families, it is very much a national problem. While there are exceptions, and many exemplary schools and outstanding teachers, this problem is a whole lot bigger than any one single individual.
As citizens, we are slipping in very real, tangible ways, and if we do not make some changes, we will no longer be a first among nations. We are already losing our place as a leader among nations and the STEM fields are very specific, pinpointed areas where we are well aware we are falling behind. We are losing our global competitive edge and we must do better if we are to stay competitive as a nation.
NASA's STEM Initiative was put in place to help reverse that downward spiral. The objective of the STEM initiative is to increase the number of students going into science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) career fields. NASA's Summer of Innovation is just one of the STEM funded initiatives. This program was designed to target minority, racial and other economically underprivileged groups, including women, who, in the past, have fallen even further behind when broke down demographically than white males and some (but not all) racially specific minority groups.
That is not to say we do not have the best education system in the world. That is to say that, for whatever reason, 1) our students are not getting the education they need to compete on an International level. 2) Even when our students do get higher degrees, they are tending away from degrees in the STEM fields. 3) If we do not reverse this trend, and pull more students into these areas, in the coming decades, the US will not be able to compete in any of the STEM related economic arenas. The bottom line is we are not keeping up. The STEM Initiative is about reversing that trend, and to *"... contribute to the continued availability of trained scientists, technologists, engineers, and educators to meet the Nation's technical workforce needs in the 21st century. "
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Comments
excellent article, thanks so much
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