Wasted education : how we fail our graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math / John D. Skrentny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Skrentny, John David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Skilled labor--United States.

Skilled labor.

Science and industry--United States.

Science and industry.

Science students--Employment--United States.

Science students.

Engineering students--Employment--United States.

Engineering students.

Work environment--United States.

Work environment.

Corporate culture--United States.

Corporate culture.

Engineering students--Employment.

United States.

Physical Description:

242 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

How we fail our graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2023.

Summary:

"We are living in an era of veritable STEM obsession. Not only do tech companies dominate our cultural imagination of American enterprise and financial growth, we urgently need science-based solutions to impending crises. As a society, we have poured enormous resources into cultivating young minds for STEM careers. The US sponsors 209 distinct STEM education programs in 13 different federal agencies at a cost of more than $3 billion. This spending is on top of countless initiatives from philanthropic foundations and corporate giving. And yet, we are facing a STEM worker crisis. In this project, sociologist John D. Skrentny asks, if we're investing so much in STEM education, why are as many as 75% of graduates with STEM degrees opting out of STEM careers? The problem is not education, he argues, but the available jobs. Skrentny aims to bring a reality check to America's growing dedication to STEM education. Each chapter highlights an aspect of STEM work culture that drives away bright minds, ranging from workplace culture and "burn and churn" management practices, to lack of job security, to the constant need for training on new innovations, to the racism and sexism that exclude non-white and Asian people and women. Skrentny shows that if we have any hope of crafting science-based solutions to many of our most urgent societal issues, we have to change the way we're treating these workers on whom our future depends"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : the great investment in STEM education

The exodus from STEM jobs

Burn and churn : how management strategies can drive away STEM workers

The precariousness of the STEM job

Training and the STEM-skills treadmill

How STEM employers contribute to their own diversity problems

STEM education for what? : investors, employers, and the purpose of STEM work.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226825793

0226825795

OCLC:

1372548097