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

[Robbie Cottam]

I think it might have something to do with letting video games parent children.

I remember in the 80s going out with my grandfather and building things,

Going out on my own and learning how to take things apart, then a few years later learning how to put them back together..... whoops

I will say the local tech school has a waiting list.....

Personal, IMHO, I see to the school of thought with kids today; you have the Eric Cartmans that want parents to wait on them hand and foot,

and then you have kids that have grown up mostly working with their parents, family business/farm, etc they are the people you see on Youtube doing what they love, making money running a piece of heavy equipment and making more money, showing the kids in the group a what hard work is...

that said, if the OP has asked the same question countless times, I hope they are doing market research.....

 

[LuvOrlando]

Not even close.

Going forward otherwise how on earth can they afford the loans and to live? If there is a well paying industry in the suburbs of the US by all means do share because it seems tough to manage student loans with the salaries. The wealth in the fields seem to be in the startup sphere in big cities, biotech and such. The high paying jobs seem to drift to other countries, some countries are even well known for being highly skilled low cost STEM.

 

[mjkacmom]

Going forward otherwise how on earth can they afford the loans and to live? If there is a well paying industry in the suburbs of the US by all means do share because it seems tough to manage student loans with the salaries. The wealth in the fields seem to be in the startup sphere in big cities, biotech and such. The high paying jobs seem to drift to other countries, some countries are even well known for being highly skilled low cost STEM.

Actually engineering is a well paying career, which is why it’s so popular.

 

[Kwami]

Going forward otherwise how on earth can they afford the loans and to live? If there is a well paying industry in the suburbs of the US by all means do share because it seems tough to manage student loans with the salaries. The wealth in the fields seem to be in the startup sphere in big cities, biotech and such. The high paying jobs seem to drift to other countries, some countries are even well known for being highly skilled low cost STEM.

Why does it have to be in the suburbs? Live where you want, work in the city. That's what the rest of us do.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Actually engineering is a well paying career, which is why it’s so popular.

Where though? In the small town where my kids grew up it did not pay well, of course it was esteemed but the families were all of modest means, nice but not WOW considering the effort it took for the diplomas. I knew a chemical engineer working at a Pharma that did nicely but all the patents were owned by the Co not him. For the most part, the only place I have seen wealth is in NYC and Boston.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Where though? In the small town where my kids grew up it did not pay well, of course it was esteemed but the families were all of modest means, nice but not WOW considering the effort it took for the diplomas. I knew a chemical engineer working at a Pharma that did nicely but all the patents were owned by the Co not him. For the most part, the only place I have seen wealth is in NYC and Boston.

I'm not sure that is true.....

In my small town twenty-plus years ago, the local engineering firms had a backlog of septic designs.... If I recall correctly, the longest part of having a new septic installed was getting the engineer to draw it up...

Not glamorous to design septic fields, but you'll make 100k a year working for someone else, or more working for yourself, mostly from home.

I'm not going to say that Orlando is a small town, but it is not NYC or Boston either and Disney pays enigeneer in various fields between $125k- $450k

 

[mjkacmom]

I'm not sure that is true.....

In my small town twenty-plus years ago, the local engineering firms had a backlog of septic designs.... If I recall correctly, the longest part of having a new septic installed was getting the engineer to draw it up...

Not glamorous to design septic fields, but you'll make 100k a year working for someone else, or more working for yourself, mostly from home.

I'm not going to say that Orlando is a small town, but it is not NYC or Boston either and Disney pays enigeneer in various fields between $125k- $450k

My BIL is an engineer who works at landfills, they’ve lived in NJ, OH, MI and IN. My dad was a chemical engineer, worked in NYC but traveled internationally a lot. In this day and age, folks need to move where the jobs are, although my kids chose majors which would allow flexibility.

 

[mom2rtk]

Going forward otherwise how on earth can they afford the loans and to live? If there is a well paying industry in the suburbs of the US by all means do share because it seems tough to manage student loans with the salaries. The wealth in the fields seem to be in the startup sphere in big cities, biotech and such. The high paying jobs seem to drift to other countries, some countries are even well known for being highly skilled low cost STEM.

Mine went to state schools and lived very frugally. Knew the ACT score they needed to get the Chancellor's Award scholarship and Bright Flight. They still needed some loans but kept it very reasonable. Both of my engineers have plans of paying off their school loans in the next few years.

My son has a ChemE degree and is working in the suburbs as an Environmental Engineer. He could relocate and make a ton more money, but he's very happy and earning a good living where he is. Lots of opportunities for engineers in the burbs.

 

[JaxDad]

Mine went to state schools and lived very frugally. Knew the ACT score they needed to get the Chancellor's Award scholarship and Bright Flight. They still needed some loans but kept it very reasonable. Both of my engineers have plans of paying off their school loans in the next few years.

My son has a ChemE degree and is working in the suburbs as an Environmental Engineer. He could relocate and make a ton more money, but he's very happy and earning a good living where he is. Lots of opportunities for engineers in the burbs.

I’m glad your kids are doing well! I remember when you were posting about them first going off to college.

There are lots of opportunities for engineers and other STEM fields, and there is definitely industry concern with meeting the anticipated demand for the future workforce. I’m in a national engineering professional society, and one of our primary missions is developing and supporting quality STEM education and training for K-12 students. I’ll be the director of a new weeklong STEM camp for high school students next summer, and I’m very excited about it. I shadowed another camp director this past summer (where my daughter was a participant), and it was a great experience!

 

[Southernmiss]

Our STEM majors went to Mississippi universities, yes 'that' Mississippi.

One is in Huntsville-aerospace engineer, one in Florida-power company engineer, one is at medical school in Virginia, one is an engineer in Georgia (female), one in Texas (female), hospital (pharmacist) in Mississippi.

Most got Merit scholarships to college and graduated debt free or are able to live frugally and pay off loans. Most have graduated college within the last 10 years.

All got jobs easily in their fields.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

My BIL is an engineer who works at landfills, they’ve lived in NJ, OH, MI and IN. My dad was a chemical engineer, worked in NYC but traveled internationally a lot. In this day and age, folks need to move where the jobs are, although my kids chose majors which would allow flexibility.

I have never been a fan of chasing a job. I could increase my salary by almost 40 percent by doing so, but QOL means more than $$$ to me.

That said, if you look and are qualified, you can usually find something where you are .....

 

[mom2rtk]

I’m glad your kids are doing well! I remember when you were posting about them first going off to college.

There are lots of opportunities for engineers and other STEM fields, and there is definitely industry concern with meeting the anticipated demand for the future workforce. I’m in a national engineering professional society, and one of our primary missions is developing and supporting quality STEM education and training for K-12 students. I’ll be the director of a new weeklong STEM camp for high school students next summer, and I’m very excited about it. I shadowed another camp director this past summer (where my daughter was a participant), and it was a great experience!

Thanks! I appreciate you saying that. It seems like forever ago when the first one left for our state engineering school. Other one went to the state flagship campus. Both had great experiences and are doing well.

Best of luck to you with your STEM camp! What a great way to help build enthusiasm and support. And best of luck to your daughter. Is she still in high school or is she in college now?

 

[_19disnA]

Seems like the OP asks basically the same question once a month or so.

 

[john7994]

Through our company and unit. We are providing financial resources and otherwise in 20 different cities across the US including 7 that are focused on Women/Girls in tech fields in particular. These are relatively new (last 5 years) in both public and private settings.

 

[DisneyOma]

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.

Going forward otherwise how on earth can they afford the loans and to live? If there is a well paying industry in the suburbs of the US by all means do share because it seems tough to manage student loans with the salaries. The wealth in the fields seem to be in the startup sphere in big cities, biotech and such. The high paying jobs seem to drift to other countries, some countries are even well known for being highly skilled low cost STEM.

Where though? In the small town where my kids grew up it did not pay well, of course it was esteemed but the families were all of modest means, nice but not WOW considering the effort it took for the diplomas. I knew a chemical engineer working at a Pharma that did nicely but all the patents were owned by the Co not him. For the most part, the only place I have seen wealth is in NYC and Boston.

This is all so convoluted that I don't know where to start!

The best way to get out of college debt-free (or moderately in debt) is to be smart. Oldest daughter got out of college debt free (MIT) and got her doctorate while getting paid (UT/Rice) and now makes tons of money living in the suburbs while working in a big city. She has a half hour commute, I think? We are not wealthy, and were actually considered pretty poor for MIT. Younger daughter is in manageable debt (30K at graduation, down to less than 10K now, I think?) as she got tons of scholarships. Her college was not as well endowed as MIT, but she got some big grant for being one of the top students.

So, to answer your three sections - the jobs are out there, but you may have to commute into the city from the suburbs. You might have to move to an area that has a better concentration of tech/research/medical than where you live now. Just like if someone wants to be a farmer, they wouldn't expect to do that in a city, one doesn't get a major biotech job in a distant suburb. You can get a lot of college paid for by being as smart as you can/working as hard as you can in high school.

 

[JaxDad]

Best of luck to you with your STEM camp! What a great way to help build enthusiasm and support. And best of luck to your daughter. Is she still in high school or is she in college now?

Thanks! My daughter is still in high school and is also interested in engineering. She hopes to join her brother at UF in a couple years. (He’s not in the engineering school but is pursuing a STEM degree.)

 

[starry_solo]

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.

OP is always trolling.

 

[LuvOrlando]

This is all so convoluted that I don't know where to start!

The best way to get out of college debt-free (or moderately in debt) is to be smart. Oldest daughter got out of college debt free (MIT) and got her doctorate while getting paid (UT/Rice) and now makes tons of money living in the suburbs while working in a big city. She has a half hour commute, I think? We are not wealthy, and were actually considered pretty poor for MIT. Younger daughter is in manageable debt (30K at graduation, down to less than 10K now, I think?) as she got tons of scholarships. Her college was not as well endowed as MIT, but she got some big grant for being one of the top students.

So, to answer your three sections - the jobs are out there, but you may have to commute into the city from the suburbs. You might have to move to an area that has a better concentration of tech/research/medical than where you live now. Just like if someone wants to be a farmer, they wouldn't expect to do that in a city, one doesn't get a major biotech job in a distant suburb. You can get a lot of college paid for by being as smart as you can/working as hard as you can in high school.

It is convoluted because this is not one thought so it isn't linear, you are pasting together different things like they belong in a sequence, what do you expect?

Not everyone is close enough to commute to a city or can afford the time or expense of a commute into a city with good jobs that pay enough for student loan and childcare and a mortgage and taxes on their own, so, sadly, it holds.

Noone is rooting against STEM, it is just that lots of people can't make a good enough living at it in the suburbs, the US is a giant place and not all suburbs are near jobs and the suburbs are part of the original post query. You actually don't seem to be disagreeing, you just assume any suburb is near good jobs and it isn't true

Again please read what the OP was asking, I think context would make more sense.

For the record, I was raised by two scientists and studied some pretty nerdy math based stuff myself, but there were no jobs for it in the suburbs.

 

[MillauFr]

Where though? In the small town where my kids grew up it did not pay well, of course it was esteemed but the families were all of modest means, nice but not WOW considering the effort it took for the diplomas. I knew a chemical engineer working at a Pharma that did nicely but all the patents were owned by the Co not him. For the most part, the only place I have seen wealth is in NYC and Boston.

You don't think the engineers are making huge bank in LA, SF, and Seattle???

 

[MillauFr]

So, to answer your three sections - the jobs are out there, but you may have to commute into the city from the suburbs. You might have to move to an area that has a better concentration of tech/research/medical than where you live now. Just like if someone wants to be a farmer, they wouldn't expect to do that in a city, one doesn't get a major biotech job in a distant suburb. You can get a lot of college paid for by being as smart as you can/working as hard as you can in high school.

Out on the west coast unless you got a degree in a STEM field you can't afford to live in the City. The people making less money are forced to live in the suburbs where the housing costs are far cheaper.