The city’s schools system needs to prioritize Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education
Our students need to be prepared to compete for the 123 million STEM field jobs expected to be in demand by the year 2020.
By Marissa Shorenstein AND Reshma Saujani / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
More often than not, the jobs of today and tomorrow require advanced knowledge in science and technology. In fact, by 2020, the U.S. economy will demand 123 million high-skilled workers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math — a set of skills commonly called STEM.
The problem is, only 50 million Americans will qualify for those jobs.
To close that gap, our education system needs to prioritize STEM education, introduce children to it in the earlier grades and continue these programs through high school. If our future generations are to compete in the economy of our future, STEM skills must no longer be treated as elective courses; they must become as second nature to our students as reading, writing and arithmetic.
New York City has already begun to make great strides to integrate STEM in school curricula and expand programs that develop those skills. The Bloomberg Administration opened the innovative Academy for Software Engineering in Manhattan and the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering as well as P-TECH in Brooklyn, a six-year program that provides students with a high school and college Associates degree in the sciences. President Obama recently visited the school and is now incentivizing districts to replicate it.
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio should continue to foster these innovative classrooms but with more than 1,800 schools in our system, expanding meaningful and effective applied science programming is a logistical and financial challenge. That is why the business and nonprofit communities must continue to lead the effort.
Our two organizations have shown how well the collaboration between the public and private sectors can work to stimulate more of these programs.
AT&T recently announced a $1.6 million contribution to support STEM programming for 1,200 students across 12 high schools throughout New York City. The students will receive a hands-on introduction to applied science learning, begin the design of an electronic portfolio they can use for college and their careers and be exposed to mentors and leaders in the field. This support is part of AT&T Aspire, AT&T’s $350 million commitment to education. Our future relies on having highly skilled workers who can keep us on the cutting- edge of innovation.
One of the biggest challenges for companies like AT&T, however, is finding women who can fill STEM positions. Nationally, they fill just 27% of STEM jobs. Only three in every 25 engineers are women.
Girls Who Code is a nonprofit organization trying to narrow this gender gap by introducing schoolage girls to the computer sciences through rigorous summer immersion coupled with real-life exposure to leaders in the field.
Last summer for example, AT&T was one of several corporate partners to host a Girls Who Code class in its New York City office. The students began with little or no knowledge of computer science. They spent eight weeks working on coding projects and meeting with women executives who relayed their own experiences in technology and engineering. The girls came away from the experience with robust technical knowledge and feeling empowered to pursue career choices they would have never otherwise imagined.
With a new mayoral administration comes a renewed commitment to improving public education so that all students can succeed. By actively growing this triangle of private, nonprofit and public programming, we can drastically increase the number of students who graduate from high school not just ready for college — but interested in careers that are in high demand.
STEM jobs are the future. It is our shared responsibility to make sure New York’s students are ready to fill them.
Marissa Shorenstein is the New York State President for AT&T. Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls Who Code.