Albemarle Tradewinds February 2016 Final Web

S.T.E.M. and Charter Schools - Good for the country, or a scam?
By: Centinel
This month we look at the STEM job shortage. The proponents of STEM say that we have an acute
shortage of STEM graduates. Is that true? One indicator is employment numbers. Let’s take 2012. In
that year we had twice as many people with STEM degrees (immigrants and native born) than STEM
jobs available. 5.3 million STEM jobs vs. 12.1 million people with STEM degrees. With less than
half of the immigrants with STEM degrees working in STEM jobs. Wages are good measure of labor
demand. If STEM graduates were in short suppy, wages would increase. Real hourly wages grew
from 2000 to 2012 .7 percent and annual wages grew at .4% per year. Modest. Why do we hear that
we need more STEM graduates? Greed and politics.
Big businesses want a perceived STEM shortage. They can make their case to the politicians (and the
public) for an increase in guest worker visas. This allows them to keep worker costs down. Politicians
like it because immigration eventually equates to votes. Acadamia wants it because it keeps them in
demand. Look how big the education industry is - and the cost. What of low high school test scores?
Of course, we want the scores better, who in their right mind wouldn’t.
Consider this: America is a huge country and the STEM workforce is small. This country graduates
more than enough students to fit the need. As the numbers show.
So why is the pro STEM argument taken as gospel?
Many high profile people want STEM, for example: Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. They have a
vested interest in keeping wages low. One last thing. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was a
psychology major. He has stated that Facebook is more psychology than programming. Zuckerberg is
a good software engineer. His success is attributed to hard work, persistence, some luck, and timing.
Entrepreneurial traits. As we stated last month, a well rounded education is best. Not enough room for
charter schools this month. Next month we will touch on that subject.
Due to space limitations references are on the online blog http://terrancemannalone.blogspot.com/
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