Why has 2000s America done such a bad job at inspiring young people to go into science or engineering?

[KnightInShiningArmorDis92]

As someone who went to public schools in an average suburban middle class part of America during the 2000s I don't recall anyone I knew from my school years who went into science or engineering.

I don't recall anyone from my elementary school years saying they dreamed of being an astronaut let alone a scientist or engineer.

I heard the 1960s "Space Race" inspired many of the youth of America during that era to go into science and engineering and they ended up giving us the tech boom of the 1990s.

It seems like American society in the 90s and 2000s were more excited by Hollywood level wealth and materialism rather than build a better future.

Could 90s and 2000s America done a better job at inspiring youth to go into science and engineering?

 

[#1hoosierfan]

My brother in law and two of my best friends have engineering degrees. They graduated in 1989.

My boys go to a middle/upper middle.class public school. My ds, who is a junior, says it’s almost funny how many kids in his class want to go to Purdue to major in engineering.

 

[disneychrista]

Have they?

 

[ChrisFL]

This reminds me of this TED talk by the late Sir Ken Robinson

 

[Kwami]

Do you have data to back up your claims? Or is this just based on your friends from school?

 

[NYCgrrl]

As someone who attended predominately selective public schools in urban settings I knew a nice amount of students who went on to what are now known as STEM schools of higher education. The cutoff was somewhere between 6th and 7th grades when the majority of the girls were “guided” into the humanities, and the boys, higher mathematics and sciences. It was all so cynical even to this then child’s eyes.

By the time my boys attended school I could see the handwriting on the wall and realized that LCD ( lowest common denominator) thunk had come to the fore. I tried to steer them into schooling more suitable for a wider learning experience.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Our son wanted to be a pilot or NASA astronaut early on since we toured Kennedy Space Center. We were able to see a lecture at UNH by three NH astronauts when he was about 9 or 10. He was probably the only kid in the audience and they invited us to meet with their families after the lecture. He corresponded with one astronaut for about a year. We sent him to Space Camp and he took flying lessons until about 14. In the end he went into medicine and is extremely successful.

Our daughter in law got an undergrad degree in chemical engineering and a masters as well and is multi lingual. She too is incredibly successful and rapidly climbing the ladder. Recently she gave a talk to middle school girls about STEM as she has in the past. She is a great speaker and sometimes compares chemical engineering to baking...different *ingredients* create different outcomes. I am sure she has inspired some young women to pursue science.

It does seem to take encouragement at a young age to not only be curious about how things work but to pursue the answers via education. Not to knock teachers but the curriculum they are forced to teach now has less and less STEM work and more and more *fluffy* stuff which is ridiculous IMO.

It takes easily 4 to 8 or more years to become fully educated and working in many of these fields so we better push harder NOW to get kids interested. If anyone is working in these fields, please volunteer to give a 15-30 minute talk about your career to middle school kids. Our future as a nation depends on it. Thanks for listening to my rant!

 

[mjkacmom]

All of my kids are in their 20’s, engineering is a very hot major, STEM is huge. Four of my kids are/were business majors, one science.

 

[Southernmiss]

I say op is trolling.

3 out of our 4 are STEM. Several families we know have STEM members.

It's definitely been encouraged since before the 2000s.

 

[disny_luvr]

I don’t know. I know a lot of engineers, although other than my cousin, they are all male.

My twins are seniors in high school and are both majoring in engineering in college. One wants to be an aerospace engineer (although he’s going to major in mechanical) and the other one wants to be a civil/environmental engineer. Three of their really good friends are also planning on majoring in engineering so I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.

 

[TippyThomas]

As someone who went to public schools in an average suburban middle class part of America during the 2000s I don't recall anyone I knew from my school years who went into science or engineering.

I don't recall anyone from my elementary school years saying they dreamed of being an astronaut let alone a scientist or engineer.

I heard the 1960s "Space Race" inspired many of the youth of America during that era to go into science and engineering and they ended up giving us the tech boom of the 1990s.

It seems like American society in the 90s and 2000s were more excited by Hollywood level wealth and materialism rather than build a better future.

Could 90s and 2000s America done a better job at inspiring youth to go into science and engineering?

Didn't you present almost the exact same question a few months ago?

 

[sam_gordon]

I say op is trolling.

He asks the same (or similar) questions repeatedly. I don't think "troll", just someone who has a strange fixation on science, sci-fi, and engineering...
https://www.disboards.com/threads/why-dont-we-have-serious-sci-fi-on-tv-anymore.3933410/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...ociety-from-building-a-better-future.3932994/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/is-realistic-sci-fi-better-than-fantastical-genres.3932655/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...-rehash-more-star-wars-and-star-trek.3931270/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...rdy-kid-who-wanted-to-be-a-astronaut.3911686/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...early-2010s-more-socially-conformist.3907614/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...ed-reality-tv-during-the-early-2010s.3888951/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...ed-down-in-the-2000s-and-early-2010s.3887861/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/h...he-capabilities-of-the-space-program.3867729/

 

[LuvOrlando]

OP, I don't think what you are saying is accurate. People are inspired to put food on the table. The 90s had war then the tech boom so lots of young people went into military service & tech. But then 2000s had massive haemorrhage of all the good paying tech jobs via outsourcing & then the subsequent housing boom made people jump into real estate as a plan b and then there was the housing crisis so after that people probably just went into whatever would feed them. It was very liner.

STEM employers do not exist in the suburbs so I would imagine you'd see more STEM job seekers coming out of towns with STEM employers in close proximity. If STEM jobs were more prevalent and easily accessible you would see more candidates, but they are not any only in certain regions and not everyone wants to relocate. Although, it is also true that STEM jobs are easily outsourced so anyone paying attention might caution their kids to be careful about making a highly specific selection. It would rot to see my kid twist themselves in knots for a 200K engineering degree loan only to have it outsourced to a cheaper labor market because the US doesn't protect these jobs and then watch that kid try to pay it off as an UBER driver.

The idea that people can just select and things work out is long dead, if anyone wants to revive such fields then protectionist behaviors will need to resurface, I wouldn't count on it. I imagine most people in STEM come from independent wealth, it is a very literal shame.

Humans are pragmatic.

 

[bakerworld]

It seems like American society in the 90s and 2000s were more excited by Hollywood level wealth and materialism rather than build a better future.

Could 90s and 2000s America done a better job at inspiring youth to go into science and engineering?

Our eldest went to College in 1999 for Engineering. She changed majors in sophomore year. In our opinion science and engineering were pushed all thru the 90's and 2000. It might be more the parents who became cautious in their encouragement as changes in majors usually mean a higher debt load.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Could 90s and 2000s America done a better job at inspiring youth to go into science and engineering?

No

 

[mom2rtk]

2 of my 3 kids have engineering degrees now. One just got the last of his credentials, the other is in engineering grad school. We're doing our part!

 

[Southernmiss]

OP, I don't think what you are saying is accurate. People are inspired to put food on the table. The 90s had war then the tech boom so lots of young people went into military service & tech. But then 2000s had massive haemorrhage of all the good paying tech jobs via outsourcing & then the subsequent housing boom made people jump into real estate as a plan b and then there was the housing crisis so after that people probably just went into whatever would feed them. It was very liner.

STEM employers do not exist in the suburbs so I would imagine you'd see more STEM job seekers coming out of towns with STEM employers in close proximity. If STEM jobs were more prevalent and easily accessible you would see more candidates, but they are not any only in certain regions and not everyone wants to relocate. Although, it is also true that STEM jobs are easily outsourced so anyone paying attention might caution their kids to be careful about making a highly specific selection. It would rot to see my kid twist themselves in knots for a 200K engineering degree loan only to have it outsourced to a cheaper labor market because the US doesn't protect these jobs and then watch that kid try to pay it off as an UBER driver.

The idea that people can just select and things work out is long dead, if anyone wants to revive such fields then protectionist behaviors will need to resurface, I wouldn't count on it. I imagine most people in STEM come from independent wealth, it is a very literal shame.

Humans are pragmatic.

None of the families I know with members in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) are wealthy and none live in or near major cities.

There are still ways to get degrees and great US jobs for STEM without wealth and at good 'affordable' public universities.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My daughter will be graduation HS in 2024 and intends on pursuing engineering. We've been on many college visits and they always ask what you want to do and hands down it's almost all engineering or some type of STEM. In my neighborhood, our HOA celebrates graduating seniors with their pictures, a little bio in our neighborhood magazine. Most plan on some type of STEM field. Many want the pre-med path. I remember a couple of year ago someone attending Duke to become a nuclear physicist.

 

[mom2rtk]

I imagine most people in STEM come from independent wealth, it is a very literal shame.

Not even close.

 

[mjkacmom]

Not even close.

Engineering is a field where it really doesn’t matter what college you go to as long as the program is accredited.