Looks like they have the same situation in the UK as we have in the US: near unanimous agreement that the country needs more science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates to be competitive globally; and at the same time, statistics showing a large number of their STEM graduates out of work, or not working in a STEM profession, even before the recession.
I'm not a conspiracy nut, but on our side of the pond, I'm starting to think this is partly about inflating the bubble for school loans, which now totals nearly $1 trillion in the US -- more than credit card debt!
Or more likely, it's just lazy thinking by people on both sides of the Atlantic who should know better. Namely, scientists who are trained to analyze numbers and reach inescapable conclusions.
There is a third, more alarming possibility though: our business leaders and policy makers may have no other answers, because the neo-liberal consensus has ruled out all others. We've already vilified and destroyed private-sector unions who might have prevented STEM jobs from leaving the country. Raising taxes or cutting subsidies on corporations which ship STEM jobs abroad is out of the question. Government and university budgets for research are on the chopping block, despite the many innovative ideas -- and business startups -- they spawn. And protectionism is now a dirty word on the left and right. And so public and private sector leaders continue to say that more and better education/training is a panacea for disappearing high-skilled, middle-class jobs in developed countries, because they have to say something.
I admit it, it's frightening to think that even more MAs and PhD's in STEM won't make us more competitive, because if not, then what in the world can we do? But hard truths must be faced. How long are ordinary folks going to passively accept the STEM education myth instead of demanding real answers to the lack of good jobs?
By Charlie Ball
July 20, 2011 | NewScientist
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