The Power of Prime

I totally agree with this article. I haven't kept up with the news on the budget crisis for education these days. I remember Obama promising more funds for education but he made a lot of promises and unnecessarily compromised them all to hell.

And I would say S.T.A.M.P.H.E.R. sounds like a reasonable acronym to me. =p

Well, I suppose we can keep adding letters to the acronym, but STEM itself has become a pretty widely accepted term and the topics relate to each other well. Regardless of what we call it, it's important for people to recognize what it means. If we, as a nation, are going to continue to compete in a global market, we need to do everything possible to get our youth interested in these fields and promote awareness of the decline in interest. There's a great post I read that talks about the future of STEM education from the perspectives of several experts. I'll post the link below.
http://www.ourblook.com/STEM/The-Future-of-STEM.html

You've made such a valid argument and one that, I have to admit, I hadn't given much thought to before. It's absolutely true that an investment in STEM programs and graduates is needed, but by investing in these programs so heavily and putting liberal arts, wellness and social sciences programs in the figurative corner,a tremendous disservice will be done to U.S. students and, in fact, our nation's place in the global market.

Additionally, while many might feel that tech/math/science-savvy graduating classes are the only way we can succeed or compete in the global market, I have to disagree. While innovation and "keeping up" is important, just imagine a world where all of our graduates knew how to program a computer or design intricate software, but had no idea how to verbally convey their ideas or put them on paper. Maybe that's a far-fetched example, but putting all of our "eggs" in one basket as it seems is being done with the investment in STEM programs, graduates, etc., will, I believe, end up being detrimental to our nation's success.

I want to quickly make something clear- although I will always side with liberal arts and social sciences (liberal arts being my background) I think that an investment in STEM programs and graduates (especially women and minority students) is a MUST. However, I'd urge educators and policymakers to not overlook our other very important and very fundamental areas of development and study.

Also- here's a few links to a STEM article I like and another article which talks about U.S. students world education rankings (hint: they're not so good- and in this case, lack of science/math skills is to blame).