STEM

Most Popular College Degrees in 2010/2011
Rank Order	Source A	Source B	Source C	Source D
1	Business	Business	Business	Biology
2	Psychology	Social Sciences	Social Science	Business
3	Nursing	Healthcare	Education	Communi- cations
4		Sciences
4	Biology	Education	Psychology	Computer Science
5	Education		Nursing	Criminal Justice
6				Just
6	English		Communi-      cations	Elementary Education
7	Economics		Biology	Marketing
8	Communi-   cations		Engineering	Nursing
9	Political Science		English	Phychology
10	Computer Science		Computer Science	Politcal Science

Source A:  http://www.princetonreview.com/college/top-ten-majors.aspx

Source B:  http://nces.ed.gov/

Source C:  http://www.campusgrotto.com/most-popular-college-majors.html

Source D:  http://collegestats.org/articles/2010/01/which-college-majors-pay-the-most-25-excellent-studies-and-rankings/


I find it very interesting how 4 sources differ so greatly in the most popular majors among our college students.  Be that as it may be, what is also curious is how only 1 source lists a hard discipline, Engineering, in the top 10, and it is listed as #8.

Whether it is the job of the parents, the schools, the counselors, the communities, the churches, the businesses, or the Government, what is important and sad is that the future of the global economy and the future of the creation of jobs both domestically and globally is in the area of:

                  SCIENCE
                  TECHNOLOGY
                  ENGINEERING
                  MATH

or what is referred to as STEM.  The STEM Educational Coalition is a group of organizations, including the Department of Education and the National Sciences Foundation, that is supporting pushing students in this direction.

Economic forecasts for the US show 3% growth or less over the next 3-5 years whereas countries in the Far East such as China and India are expecting 6% growth or better.  This growth will be in the areas of:  Wireless Communications and Cloud Computing.  Companies all over the world are experiencing growth in these right now and are hiring STEM graduates.

And, guess what?  While the US is playing around with English and Psychology and Sociology, students in China and India are focused on STEM.  Yes, there will be a need for business people and yes there will be a need for elementary teachers and yes there will be a need for nurses and doctors and lawyers, those positions are flat right now for growth and replacements will only come about when the Baby Boomers convinced themselves it is time to retire which according to the current economy will not be anytime too soon.

The issue here is more along the lines that STEM degrees are hard work and Americans typically want the easy way out.