What Can The GM Experience Teach Us?
Business leaders in Missouri have sounded an alarm. They cannot find the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent they need to stay competitive.
So says a Vital Signs report by Change The Equation whose members are the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who are committed to promoting K-12 STEM learning. But if you look at the statistics, you are left with two choices. Either Missouri businesses are so inept at recruiting that they couldn’t find a Batman at Comic-Con or CTE doesn’t read their own members’ reports like the one from Rand Corporation that said, “On measures such as additions to the S&T workforce and patented innovations, U.S. growth in was on par with, or above, world average trends.”
There are a lot of workforce reports that would refute the statements made by CTE, like theEconomic Policy Institute report that said, “For every two students that U.S. college graduate with a STEM degrees, only one is hired into a STEM job.”
Even the Urban Institute agrees that “The available data indicate that the United States’ education system produces a supply of qualified STEM graduates in much greater numbers than jobs available.” We don’t have a shortage of STEM degreed candidates. We aren’t in danger of falling behind other countries in having an available pool of STEM candidates. Could Missouri companies be complaining about something else?
I thought maybe the report would go on to talk about the other non STEM skills that the numerous graduates with STEM degrees lacked that made them unqualified as candidates for all these What Can The GM Experience Teach Us? | Missouri Education Watchdog: