|
Editorial: Branstad, STEM and schools
Op-Ed · January 19, 2017
We hear many people, including teachers, cite West Branch’s public school system among their top reasons for moving to the community.
When we look closer at what makes West Branch schools so attractive, the underlying reasons we hear from these folks include test scores, pupil-to-teacher ratios, and extra-curricular opportunities.
With that in mind, we want to address specifically the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math proposals in Gov. Terry Branstad’s 2017 Condition of the State address.
The proposal to intensify the requirements for STEM, especially the inclusion of computer science programs and standards from elementary school and up, are very important to a student’s life after school.
From pay-at-the-pump to self-checkout lanes to online stores, technology taught us that consumers are quite happy to do more for themselves to save money, which means less need for low-skill workers.
On the flip side, that means an increased demand for more skills to compete for the jobs available now, plus the new jobs created by our more tech-driven economy. We must accept that STEM education is no longer a niche field of study, but one that reaches into just about every growing career sector.
Recently, a local high school student, planning to enter a STEM career, suggested to our editor that the web makes it so easy to find information that what needs to be learned in school is lessened. The editor reminded the student that one key purpose to taking tests, for example, is to gauge immediate recall, because those people have greater appeal to employers due to free-market competition.
West Branch is pushing more STEM education because it understands this principle, and it is good to see the governor, who has pressed for more STEM in past years, proposing we continue in this direction. To do so increases the chances for graduates to not only be prepared for those careers, but to have the edge necessary to land desirable jobs.
This seems to contrast strongly with the rise in 2016 of “safe spaces” on college campuses: How can students unable to handle differences of opinion handle getting turned down for a job? Unearned self-esteem — which is really just arrogance — does not land jobs, only experience, knowledge and skills do.
West Branch Superintendent Kevin Hatfield has consistently pushed for more rigorous and challenging education, especially in STEM areas, since he arrived here, because he understands that students who want to succeed later will not try to dodge the possibility of failure now.
The primary purpose of schools is to give pupils the basic knowledge necessary to market themselves in a competitive workforce, and STEM must be part of that basic knowledge.
We look forward to seeing more details about the governor’s proposal for STEM education.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
