Adams 12 Five star schools recently celebrated the launch of its second STEM (science, technology, engineering and science) school.
The move makes another local ripple in an emerging effort to either create dedicated STEM schools or incorporate STEM offerings into curriculum, which Jefferson County schools does at many locations.
A major concern mentioned in current political speeches from competing parties is a lack of STEM-educated graduates to fill available jobs. We are told many STEM jobs are left vacant because there are few qualified applicants.
Consequently, some members of the U.S. House of Representatives are considering legislation that would make green cards available to more foreign nationals who have earned advanced degrees in STEM fields.
The continued need for this type of highly-trained workers is apparent.
By 2018, about 92 percent of traditional STEM jobs will be for those with at least some postsecondary education and training — the third-highest educational concentration among all the occupational clusters, after education and healthcare professionals, according to a report about STEM from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
So it is easy to see how important it is for students to get early footholds in STEM education and encourage them, by the time they reach middle and high school, to see themselves making a career in those fields.
It is a no-brainer for us to enlist our support for a stronger emphasis in STEM education.
We like what we have seen in recent years, and we see few signs of a STEM vs. liberal education controversy. The programs — such as the Adams 12 model that includes music, history and social studies — seem to strike a good balance and take into account a core value that cautions that narrowly educating students will not produce the worldly graduates needed in the workforce.
We have often complimented shadow programs and partnerships between education and business. The STEM emphasis simply adds to efforts to help students make connections between what they are being taught and how that relates to career tracks — something education does with varied success. New STEM programs and schools are targeting emerging markets while giving students balanced educations — a good move for the future of the country.