Making science and math a priority

By Eric Spiegel
.

Some of America’s most promising students in STEM, shorthand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, recently competed in the nation’s premier math and science competition at MIT. The competition showcases the best and brightest high school students, those who will become the next great innovators.

They aren’t the ones I worry about. As the CEO of a company that employs more than 60,000 employees in all 50 states, I’m much more concerned with those who shudder at the thought of algebra or chemistry, those who don’t realize that in the new economy, even in fields you wouldn’t expect, STEM proficiency is essential.

I’m concerned because there’s a real question, perhaps for the first time in American history, about whether the next generation will be better off than the last one, whether their own kids will have the same opportunities that they had. When parents hear that some 85 percent of recent college graduates have had to move back home after college, and that the new generation has lost so much earning power that it may take a decade or more to recover, it’s no wonder they worry. And it’s no wonder that more and more are asking the same important question: How does my son or daughter get ahead of the curve?

The answer is to gain proficiency in the skills needed for the jobs that are growing the fastest here and around the world. Those jobs, by and large, are in STEM fields.

Over the past decade, STEM job openings grew three times faster than non-STEM jobs. STEM workers are expected to earn, on average, 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts. Even among workers with a high school diploma or less, those with STEM proficiency will earn, on average, 36 percent more than those without it. Last year, when the unemployment rate reached 10 percent, STEM unemployment remained at 5.3 percent.

STEM isn’t just a ticket to a good job. It’s a ticket back to the kind of prosperity that used to define the American economy. A recent Harvard study found that poor math skills could cost the US economy $75 trillion over the next 80 years. In a global economy where capital flows freely across borders, businesses are going to invest where the talent is.

But too often in the United States, companies post jobs that require STEM training, and then fail to find applicants who can fill them. A recent Manpower survey found that 52 percent of employers are having trouble finding qualified workers to fill key jobs that require advanced science and math skills. Our company has more than 3,000 job openings across America right now—and yet, only 10 percent of applicants pass the series of tests we put potential employees through to fill these jobs. For the first time, we’ve recently had to hire recruiters to help fill them. We are facing a skills gap, a failure to develop a workforce that can meet the needs of the new job market.

There are a couple of ways we can confront this problem. One, of course, is to reform our education system to emphasize and improve STEM education. It shouldn’t be acceptable to any of us that the reasons given for such poor test scores — from the shortage of qualified science teachers to a lack of advanced science classes in low income and rural areas — are so solvable. We need a national commitment to flexibility and innovation in classrooms, as well as scholarships and other incentives to produce a new generation of STEM teachers.

Another is for employers to take more responsibility to help develop the workforce of the future. Job training gives workers the technical skills necessary to work in the new digital manufacturing environment.

But there is another, perhaps more important step that needs to be taken.

As a nation, we need to take the dread out of math and science homework — for students and parents. There are terrific tools, including innovative online sites, which can help all of us brush up on STEM skills while helping our children. Improving these scores is not simply the responsibility of our schools or teachers — up to all of us.

Take Seth and Louise Pollack. I They taught their son, Ben, from an early age that it’s important to think outside the box and always seek answers. They encouraged him to pursue his interest in science by enrolling in an independent research program at school. And they reminded him that the skills gained from engaging in science were just as important as the research he was conducting. We need more parents to actively encourage their children’s success in STEM. Today, Ben uses his STEM background as an employee in our healthcare sector, not, by the way, as a scientist, but as an emerging technologies and metrics specialist on the online communications team, applying his research skills to find ways to better serve our customers.

We need to start doing what other countries do: instilling the value of science, math, and technology in our kids in their earliest years. It doesn’t matter if they are going to be an engineer or not. It doesn’t even matter if they plan to go to college or not. Their future — and ours — depends on their ability to master a skill set they’ll need in the jobs of the future.

Eric Spiegel is the US CEO of Siemens Corp.
.