Even When You’re Good, You Can Always Get Better (And Do More Good)

A new report from the Urban Institute takes aim at the common conception in policy circles that the United States is educating fewer scientists and engineers and that those students are underperforming in comparison with their international peers. According to the authors, the country is in fact graduating more scientists and engineers than the workforce can absorb, and the performance scores of those students are increasing.

As Vivek Wadhwa points out in a BusinessWeek editorial, the findings of authors Lindsay Lowell and Harold Salzman run counter to those of the widely influential National Academies report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.” He goes on to say that the findings of the report, titled “Into the Eye of the Storm,” reinforce previous work dispelling the myth that shortages of engineers are forcing U.S. companies to look for qualified workers outside the country.

While it may be good news that there is little reason to worry about the state of U.S. science and engineering education, taking the findings at face value is unproductive. Accepting the interpretation that the U.S. science and engineering cohort is smart and competitive and then resting on one’s laurels is easy if the only measure of importance is global economic competitiveness. That viewpoint accepts the status quo, smacks of nationalism, and fails to address the underlying concerns Lowell and Salzman raise about the shape of the U.S. workforce.

They write in the introduction:

Workforce development and education policy requires a more thorough analysis than appears to be guiding current policy reports. The available evidence points, first, to a need for targeted education policy, to focus on the populations in the lower portion of the performance distribution. Second, the seemingly more-than-adequate supply of qualified college graduates suggests a need for better understanding why the “demand side” fails to induce more graduates into the S&E workforce. Third, public and private investment should be balanced between domestic development of S&E workforce supply and global collaboration as a longer-term goal. Policy approaches to human capital development and employment from prior eras do not address the current workforce or economic policy needs.

The findings should offer a new vantage point from which to hold policy discussions about how science and engineering education and the economic sectors it fuels can continue to grow and improve the quality of life for U.S. citizens. The most pertinent question with regard to educating scientists and engineers may not be, “How can we improve performance and increase numbers in order to stay ahead of other nations?” but instead, “How can we create and maintain a dynamic economy that takes full advantage of the scientists and engineers graduating from U.S. schools to benefit all of our citizens and collaborate effectively with other nations?”

Tags: STEM Education

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