(Post in response to ASQ CEO Bill Troy blog post on A View from the Q)
This month, ASQ CEO talks about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers in his blog, reaffirming that we need to keep encouraging the next generation of STEM professionals. Every year ASQ surveys teenagers about various STEM topics. In the 2015 survey, 80% of teens said they admire engineers’ problem-solving abilities and 68% think engineers get paid a high salary.
My very first post I wrote for the Influential Voices group was on February 2012. The subject: STEM careers in Argentina, and the high demand and low offer of engineers in that country.
In that post, I showed statistics gathered in 2009: “According to a report by the Argentinian Department of Education, in 2009, around 5% of engineering students graduate annually. There is 1 graduated engineer, per year, every 6,700 inhabitants. This rate is low compared with countries like China (1 in 2,000), Germany or France (1 in 2,300), Mexico or Chile (1 in 4,500) and Brazil (1 in 6,000).
Sadly to say, that today in 2015 the number of graduated engineers are still lower than 10,000 a year (around of 1 engineer per 7,000 inhabitants ), and we only has 1 more year to work on that.
We as engineers have to teach the beauty of engineering. But this is a task that should start at home and school.
Bruce Dickinson, an English musician and airline pilot said: “Teachers need to be more inspirational. But it’s also up to engineering to make itself more interesting. Engineering stimulates the mind. Kids get bored easily. They have got to get out and get their hands dirty: make things, dismantle things, fix things. When the schools can offer that, you’ll have an engineer for life.“
