Blog: Why I Support STEM Education

Statement

STEM education is the study of science, technology, engineering, or math. Encouraging our students toward these fields of study will start them down a path that can ensure their future economic security and well being.

Unfortunately, according to the U.S. Department of Education, only 16 percent of high school seniors are proficient in mathematics and interested in a STEM career. Yet the demand for computing professionals is roughly four times higher than that of all other occupations. Nationally, more than a half million computing jobs were unfilled as of December 2013.

Because the U.S does not produce enough STEM graduates to fill these jobs, U.S. companies hire more than 100,000 foreign workers each year under the H-1B visa program. Corporations pay enormous sums of money to gain access to those skilled workers --more than one billion dollars annually. That is money that could be going into the U.S. economy instead.

These facts expose an alarming gap between the current focus in our schools and our real-world need for workers who are highly skilled in technical fields. If we are to fuel our economic growth and achieve stability, we must close this gap.

Simply throwing money at STEM education will not solve the problem. The U.S. will spend about $3 billion in support of STEM this year. Despite this level of spending, American students rank 26th in math and 21st in science among the 34 nations participating in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Our children are outperformed by students in countries who spend half of what the U.S. invests per student.

Our success depends on attitude changes and a coordinated focus among parents, educators, corporations and lawmakers; one that elevates and promotes STEM learning and recognizes student achievement in this area.

As part of my commitment to elevate attention to STEM education, I am hosting the first annual STEM "App" Competition in the 6th Congressional district. This competition gives high school students a national showcase and recognition for their programming skills and challenges them to create a software application on the platform of their choice.

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