[FlipWilson]

“Throughout America, debates about what to do about the shortage of science, technology, engineering and math graduates have been going on for at least a decade from the halls of Congress to most university campuses. It apparently never occurred to any of the thought leaders who participated in them that they might be mistaken. “

First off, it is a function of the economy. There are no jobs anywhere. The fact that the demand for STEM educated workers is a bit less than the supply is better than the fact that there are NO jobs for those who are majoring in Art History, Women’s Studies and Ancient African Chanting. I would rather work my tail off and get the STEM degree knowing full well that at the end of the day I can do ANYTHING with that degree. Try getting a job that requires understanding technology with an English Literature degree. While not impossible, it is not exactly commonplace.

[bigbob]

Exactly. Plus, STEM education is hard, requiring diligence and effort, which usually means less partying, longer hours, etc.

[Kirkwood]

“I would rather work my tail off and get the STEM degree knowing full well that at the end of the day I can do ANYTHING with that degree.”

That is a myth.

[RJS1950]

The myth propagated by companies that there was/is a shortage of engineers, IT, scientists has been going on since the 90s. This started at the beginning of the outsourcing movement in the 90s and is based on companies desires to hire lesser qualified candidates who are more likely to accept any wage (and abuse) no matter how low in order to work and stay here in the U.S. Along with that, the efforts to build interest for stem subjects at the K-12 levels has almost exclusively focused on young women because there were too many boys and not enough girls in the sciences. Young men have been ignored and even discouraged from getting into stem subjects over the last 20 years. I’ve seen this with my sons and now my grandson while my grandaughters are encouraged and provided with a lot of programs to generate an interest. Along with ignoring the abundance of qualified native stem workers, they have choked off a large part of the pipeline for future stem employees.

[kabar]

The fact that the demand for STEM educated workers is a bit less than the supply is better than the fact that there are NO jobs for those who are majoring in Art History, Women’s Studies and Ancient African Chanting.

I guess it depends on how you define a "bit less than supply." Using the most common definition of STEM jobs, total STEM employment in 2012 was 5.3 million workers (immigrant and native), but there are 12.1 million STEM degree holders (immigrant and native).

Despite the economic downturn, Census Bureau data show that, between 2007 and 2012, about 700,000 new immigrants who have STEM degrees were allowed to settle in the country, yet at the same time, total STEM employment grew by only about 500,000.