11Mar / 2013

Recruiting under false pretenses?

In conjunction with the Uncommon Alliance: Women in STEM conference in Washington, DC (8-9 March 2013), there was a social media push (#DCSTEM) in conjunction with International Women’s Day to get professionals in the sciences to provide 140 characters of encouraging young women to go into STEM fields. I encourage, in my own way, but I can’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that I’m being a bit disingenuous when I do so.

In biological sciences, the problem is not getting young women interested. You don’t go to graduate school if you are not interested – normally extremely interested, I want to be involved in this for the rest of my life interested.

Women are not underrepresented in the biological sciences at the graduate school and post-doctoral level (this varies depending on sub-discipline) the way they are in other fields. They are significantly underrepresented among tenure track faculty and department leadership. The problem isn’t women lacking interest in biology. It is an institutional lack of interest in women.

I feel disingenuous because, if I am knowingly encouraging people to pursue my own education and career path, I am encouraging them to follow a path that institutionally is set up to make it hard for them to be successful.

I’m not encouraging these young women to get them interested. I’m encouraging them in order to give them enough enthusiasm to overcome the institutional hurdles they will face that do not face their male counterparts. I’m encouraging them to enter a field that will act like it does not want them.

While I want to encourage everyone to follow their passion, I wonder if I am sacrificing the individual for the broader social goal? Am I giving these young women the same advice I would give my own children?

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28Feb / 2013

Teach a child to think

LMU students taking a class at the LA zoo. Photo by Adan Garcia.

For the last month, the science policy group I belong to has been discussing K-12 STEM education. The United States’ scoring on international achievement tests has been falling since the 70s. You can look over the data for the most recent evaluation by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) here. For all of our posturing as the most powerful country in the world, we are failing to give our children a competitive education. How do we turn the ship around and teach our children to think critically and help them prepare for a life in a rapidly advancing society?

The answer isn’t so obvious. As a biological science PhD familiar with the current job market (or lack thereof), it is tempting to say “Let’s get scientists teaching science!”. While many PhD scientists are qualified and great teachers, there are many more that would be teaching disasters. I also think the problem starts earlier than high school where presumably these PhD scientists would be most qualified to teach.

Kids need to be exposed to and excited by science early and often. Many times primary education teachers aren’t familiar with scientific concepts and are not confident in teaching them. We need to find a way to incentivize majoring in science and education (wages!!). Right now with a Bachelor’s in a scientific discipline, you can earn much more working everywhere other than education.

In order to learn to think critically, it is important that students are offered opportunities to learn by guided inquiry. Too many schools are simply asking kids to memorize, regurgitate and forget. The current culture of “teaching to the test” is undermining student’s potential.

Is there one best way to solve the problem? No. But we have to start somewhere before we find ourselves in a country where nobody has been trained well enough to function in our highly technical society.