STEM Jobs Aren’t Students’ First Choice. More Hands-On Experiences Could Help, Experts Say
Less than one-third of teens and young adults listed a role in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics fields as their first-choice career, even though a sizable majority of them are interested in STEM occupations, according to a new survey from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation.Lack of exposure to STEM concepts may be contributing to the disconnect between students’ interests and the career they say they most hope to pursue, according to the report based on a nationally representative survey of 2,006 12- to 26-year-olds conducted in September.“The findings point to the fact that despite students’ interest in STEM, they’re not finding viable pathways to those careers, or something prevents them from pursuing those careers, and we need to understand what those barriers are and address them,” said Maud Abeel, a director for Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit that develops programs and public policies focused on boosting students’ college and career readiness. Jobs i...