Economic Policy Institute Report on STEM jobs misses crucial point.

Another article by Jordan Weissmann of The Atlantic appeared. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-myth-of-americas-tech-talent-shortage/275319/ It talks about a widely disseminated report from the EPI.  Unfortunately, that report seems to equate DEGREE with EDUCATION.  Here is a copy of what I posted in response.

“I don’t doubt that corporations focus on profits and that H1B visas can be a tool for them. On the other hand, if we want to see more Americans get good jobs, we must look hard at all the reasons why this may not be happening.

I believe that this article and the report it relies on are confusing DEGREED with EDUCATED. I cannot find that distinction anywhere in the Economic Policy Institute paper. If I am correct that people are mistaking degreed for educated – which the data and my experience as a math professor lead me to believe I am – then there IS a dearth of well educated STEM students.

Here are just two of many pieces of evidence. (For those who want to see more, you can go to my blog inside-higher-ed.com)

First, here is a direct quote from how one of the country’s top research universities brags in a magazine that it is working hard to produce STEM graduates:

“In a typical [physics] class, they hear one or more 10-minute lectures over the material, talk about two-minute problems in groups and discuss their answers. Often there is a demonstration that illustrates the material. At last, they go home and rework the original set of homework problems… Students immediately responded to the new format; they were clamoring to get in.”

Here are some of the things students (with very high SAT’s, probably averaging 740 in math) say about the course.

“His exams have unlimited time and are so easy!..”

“if you ask him questions during exams, he’ll answer them for you in full detail. really easy to do well in this class”

“It was touted as the best at [the university], but I just finished the semester, and I feel like I did not learn much … I am a Physics major and am worried about the voids in my background. Please give more fundamentals”

Almost 90% of the students in this class have historically expected an A.

Now, here is some data (from a totally different source) that I believe show that there is a dearth of well trained STEM graduates and that it shows up in salaries reported by the State of Texas for majors in “Computer and Information Sciences, General” and by Carnegie-Mellon University.

UT, Austin
and UT, Dallas has students with about the same SAT range

Median
Salaries are $71,059 and $65,328, respectively.

Texas State
at San Marcos and UT, Tyler also have about the same SAT range.

Median
Salaries are $58,992 and $45,336, respectively.

Austin
Community College Assoc Deg Median is $57, 395 but

South Texas
College Median for the same degree is $26,597.

Finally, at Carnegie-Mellon University, the median was $95,000.

From all of this, plus much more,I cannot help but conclude that degrees don’t always represent ability or education. I also conclude that not enough universities are providing their students with the appropriate skills – though some are, and those students are in high demand. This lack of training is much to the detriment of students and parents that believe they are getting a good education. There are many talented young people who may not be able to attend MIT or CalTech or Carnegie, but, if given a legitimate education could find employment in these STEM fields They have been robbed of their chance by the attitudes of too many people in higher education.

Clark Kerr’s statement from 1980 cannot be repeated too much, “…This shift from academic merit to student consumerism is one of the two greatest reversals of direction in all the history of American higher education…” THAT is the problem.”