Is STEM Dividing the House?: Ask Abe!
Date Posted: September 19, 2014
Posted In: Ideas, News, Workforce,
by John Gaal EdD
Director of training and Workforce Development
Carpenters’ District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity
On Sept. 10 Dr. Rod Nunn and his crew delivered the 2014 State of the St. Louis Workforce Report (SSLWR14) at St. Louis Community College—Forest Park. It was great to see that STLCC continues to utilize MERIC services provided by the MoDED. It was great to see that MERIC focused on what appears to be the areas of growth, known as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math…for quasi-political/religious reasons, only a few years ago, this state refused to follow the national trend by referring to these areas as METS). What was not great to see was the Construction Industry being marginalized as something less than STEM.
Unfortunately, policy wonks are calling the shots when occupations and sectors within our economy are sifted and sorted into new categories. It would be nice if some of these beltway insiders invested the time to step into the real world before casting their votes…votes that have long term (negative) effects!
Plumbers, electricians, brick layers, carpenters, etc. all use math and technology on a daily basis. Industrial plants and office buildings, of any significance, do not get built in today’s competitive environment without the use of BIM (Building Information Modeling). All tradespeople on these respective job sites must be able to navigate the array of contract documents in this dynamic electronic format. This does not happen through osmosis. The joint labor-management training programs for many of the trades mentioned above are responsible for upskilling their workers and have acted as such. Of significance, basic math and technical (computer) skills are pre-requisites for learning how to use BIM effectively.
This brings us to another pertinent issue: ill-prepared high school graduates. For years, the trades mentioned above have stated their concerns about the number of area high school and college graduates who cannot pass a 6th grade-level math test. In the context of the SSLWR14, how will the “elitist” STEM employers find qualified candidates if the “second-class” trades are experiencing difficulties identifying candidates with basic math competencies?
The purported STEM bias has a detrimental impact beyond the aforementioned dealings with secondary and post-secondary graduates. Is it any wonder why voc-tech high schools have lost their luster in the past four decades? By not positioning construction careers as STEM occupations, parents of middle-schoolers will continue to shun technical education and embrace the “college for all” mantra.
In the future, we need to collectively seek solutions in the best interest of all STEM-related occupations and STOP dividing occupations and sectors based on ill-conceived and/or unfounded policies. As a famous rail-splitter from long ago said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”