But when the data is broken down by racial and ethnic group, we find a large disparity. Some 61 percent of Black high school students stated that they were “definitely or probably not considering a career in health care or the sciences.” For Hispanic teens, only 42 percent said they would not consider a career in these fields. The major reason why teenagers said they would not consider careers in these fields was because they felt they were not good at school subjects relating to these disciplines.
Peter J. Miller, interim provost at University of the Sciences, stated, “A robust economic future depends upon the building of a strong, diverse workforce in STEM fields. Unfortunately, this survey highlights a lack of engagement from our country’s youth in the career fields that not only are projected to grow substantially over the next decade, but also have high earning potential.”
Source: http://www.jbhe.com/2012/10/survey-finds-that-black-youth-are-not-interested-in-stem-careers/
The study “observaton” that youth feel they are not good in subjects leading to health related fields is not a commentary on the youth. It is a commentary on the educational system. To title this article, “Survey Finds that Black Youth Are Not Interested in Stem Careers” is a disservice to black youth and a reinforcement of the stereotypical racist institutionalized attitudes concerning black youth. Many factors need to be considered beyond those prejudicially constructed from the responses to a survey.
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ with Mary on her comments. Its easy to blame school systems for students deficiencies. However, parenting plays just as much of a role in the educational process. Converse to what we as blacks will admit, there are serious problems in the educational culture especially with the male students. It is difficult to find solutions to problems if there are denials that problems exist.
DeleteI think there is a lack of interest among all racial groups to pursue science related fields. I think we need to do a better job to engage students about pursuing science careers. We recently developed a strategy to engage students by using concepts from hip hop to encourage students to pursue careers in the chemical sciences.
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