
A Rising Call to Promote STEM Education and Cut Liberal Arts Funding - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/business/a-rising-call-to-promote-stem-education-and-cut-liberal-arts-funding.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
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AstroJetson
To me the really depressing part of the article is that Engineers make $65K
per year while education is at the bottom at $35K. Not sure where the next
crop of engineers is going to come from without good educators.

I like the word TEEMS, for Technology Education Engineering Math and Science.

All of the successful engineers I know have an "arts" side. They are painters,
sculptors, musicians, actors, SF fiction writers, etc. So cutting the arts out
completely isn't a good idea for the future either.

~~~
michaelmcdonald
The United States has a very poor attitude when it comes to education.
Teachers are "paid too much", "work too little", etc... Yet without a strong
foundation rooted in education we will see more or more individuals receiving
sub-par experiences in school.

The counter-argument to this is that trade schools and apprenticeships are
producing more hands-on training than the traditional educational model that
the U.S. delivers. You start seeing speciality "schools" crop up with a focus
on the "career" rather than an "education" (which I relate to being a broad /
generalized introduction to topics / concepts and how they can be used).

Is there a perfect solution? Couldn't tell you; I'm the wrong person to ask
(ex-teacher now working as a Linux SysAdmin). But there IS a problem and one
we need to address as a nation if we want to remain competitive across all
fields on a global scale.

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setra
Average teacher pay is around 42 thousand a year. Average household income is
52 thousand a year (the median is also close). So without working summers they
make almost as much as most families.

[http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary](http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States)

~~~
AstroJetson
What does the working summers part of it have to do with how much they make?
If you dug around you will find that most schools close the second week of
June and the teachers are back the first or second week of August. So about
6-8 weeks.

I guess they could get paid less and get summer jobs as migrant fruit and
vegetable pickers, or maybe lifeguard at the country club pool. Is that what
you are suggesting?

Teachers shouldn't be average. Teachers are taking one of your most valuable
possessions, your children, and teaching them skills like math, science,
reading, etc. Why should they make less than you do? I'm sure you had some
amazing teachers that motivated you to become the superstar you are today.
Let's go back and replace them with "average teachers". Now lets run you
through the school system again. Are you still a superstar or are you now some
person at a min wage job? Teachers make a difference and we should acknowledge
that and pay them accordingly.

People keep saying they want to make America Great, why not start with the
resource that can do that, people with a great education. A super solid 12
year education to get everyone on a firm foundation and able to really make a
difference.

Sorry if it sounds like a rant, but I see other countries make huge strides in
education to improve their residents lives and I see the US cut ours down to
create more workers that can only function in a minimum wage job.

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setra
The point is a SINGLE person is making almost as much of a family by not
working all year. In addition the United states spends a lot of money on
schools:
[http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/apr/21/jeb...](http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/apr/21/jeb-
bush/does-united-states-spend-more-student-most-countri/)

Next white students in the united states are doing better than most of Europe.
Note that the United states does poorly on the international PISA tests. But
if you break it down by race you will notice that the education is working
very well for white students: [http://isteve.blogspot.com/2013/12/overall-
pisa-rankings-inc...](http://isteve.blogspot.com/2013/12/overall-pisa-
rankings-include-america.html)

