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I participate in a number of professional communities that frequently discuss not only the state of STEM education but also the demand for Stem graduates. There seem to be a variety of opinions about this ranging from we already have too many to there is not enough to we have enough but not with the right skill set. Here is a recent article on the topic Abstract: Recent policy reports claim the United States is falling behind other nations in science and math education and graduating insufficient numbers of scientists and engineers. Review of the evidence and analysis of actual graduation rates and workforce needs does not find support for these claims. U.S. student performance rankings are comparable to other leading nations and colleges graduate far more scientists and engineers than are hired each year. Instead, the evidence suggests targeted education improvements are needed for the lowest performers and demand-side factors may be insufficient to attract qualified college graduates http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1034801&download=yes I would love to hear other ideas and opinions on this

I have two opinions regarding this topic. First, as a parent, my son will graduate with an engineering degree and will head to grad. school next year. His advisor told him, he is a minority and should have no trouble getting funding. He was confused. His Professor said not enough Americans are going to Grad School. I think we are graduating students, the question might be how many stay in USA afterwards? Is there a reverse brain drain? Is it due to location the students live finding jobs. Another point is there are many higher paying tech. type jobs for expample in Biotechnology that require only 3-6 weeks of post high school training. Are we encouragning all students to know about these opportunities for higher paying jobs in science. Some of the best discoveries were discovered by non scientist, are we encouraging all students to be science citizens? Interested in Science?

Hi Joann,
I loved your thoughts and decided to do a search of resources on science citizens in the NSTA Learning Center. There are lots of articles. Here are a few:
Science Sampler: Wanted—Citizen Scientists
Using Citizen Scientists to Measure the Effects of Ozone Damage on Native Wildflowers
Science Sampler: Project Citizen—Students practice democratic principles while conducting community projects
Carolyn