As generative artificial intelligence has captured our imaginations and civilians are rocketed into space, the allure of the STEM fields has never been stronger. At the same time, from food insecurity to the existential threat of climate change, almost every challenge facing our world today relies on creative solutions from people trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The generation poised to inherit these crises, and with the most incentive to solve them, is sitting in high schools right now.
Yet, 41 years after “A Nation At Risk” caused widespread panic about our public schools, fewer than half of American students are graduating high school ready for college or career. U.S. teens performed lower on the latest international math test than students in many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea and Estonia.
When young people are discouraged from pursuing a STEM-related career, they get locked out of 15 of the top 20 fastest-growing occupations, all of which come with family-sustaining salaries. And that means we all lose out — because the jobs needed to keep our country running go unfilled, and the inventions, treatments and technologies for our rapidly changing society go undiscovered.
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