Getting the ‘E’ into STEM Funding
While there certainly has been a big, ongoing push in recent years to highlight STEM education, arguably it’s mainly the “S” and “M” that get the most attention, while the “E” and “T” are somewhat overlooked. Few American K-12 students are ever exposed to engineering in school. Legislation that would start to address that imbalance and fund efforts to bolster engineering education in primary and secondary schools was recently introduced in both the Senate and House, according to the Triangle Coalition, a STEM advocacy group. The Engineering Education for Innovation Act — nicknamed E2 — was introduced in the Senate by three Democrats and one Republican. The House bill was introduced by Rep. Paul Tonko, D-NY. E2 would, over five years, use competitive grants to fund K-12 school programs designed to spark an interest in engineering among students, particularly young women and underrepresented minorities, the Coalition’s website reports. Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., one of the sponsors, says that engineers “have a central role to pay in developing innovative technology that will help our economy recover and promote real job growth.” But we need more of them to accomplish that goal. Proponents note that only 5 percent of U.S. college graduates are engineers. In Europe, engineers comprise 12 percent of graduates; in Asia, 20 percent. The reason for the shortfall may be that engineering remains a mystery profession to too many K-12 students. E2 might help start to give them a clearer picture.
Filed under: K-12 Education News
Tags: Public Policy
