Why are Americans Falling Behind in STEM?

In American culture, bieng bad at math is often viewed as normal or even cool. The phrase “I can’t math” is a common utterance among people of all ages. However, in order for a society to flourish it must keep innovating, and math is essential to innovation. Throughout history, the society on top has often been a society where inventors and scientists are venerated and respected.

If Amercia is to keep making life-changing technological and medical advancements, we need to get Amercian kids excited about math and science again.

In February 2017, the Pew Research Center published an article showing that U.S students “rank 30th in math and 19th in science” out of the “35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development”. The statistics are sobering, and I encourage you to check out more of the findings here.

In the U.S (and in other developed countries, but this blog post will only discuss STEM in America), a lot is taken for granted – electricity, cell phones, television, and easy access to food/water are among a few. Despite, Americans access to all of the aforementioned luxuries, how many Americans actually know how these goods are mad accessible? How many know where are electricitiy comes from, or how we get running water? Now, I’m not seeing that everyone should be knowledgeable of the detailed math and science behind these luxuries, but people should at least understand the very basics of the technology that allows them to take a selfie and share it around the world using their iphone. I believe that gaining a basic understanding some of the many technologies used everyday will help people gain a greater appreciation for these technologies. ( I also believe that America’s education system plays a large part in dampening children’s innate curiosity, but that topic will be for another post.)

The statistics are clear, America is falling behind in math and science. I want the world of tomorrow to be better than the world of today, and if that is to happen then it is essential that we find a way to get students interested in STEM again.