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Betsalel Williamson HPS 0545 SEC1200 Julia Bursten Monday, April 14, 2014 Summary Week 14 "The STEM Crisis Is a Myth", published in August 2013, from the The Institue of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' monthly publication IEEE Spectrum was a great eye opener into the facts behind the so called "STEM Crisis". Robert N. Charette gave a brief overview on the current "STEM crisis" citing how governments, institutions, and employers are perpetuating a myth of an economic crisis to prop up bad business practices and social programs. Governments need an issue to create voter interest; schools like to have funding to attract students by offering in-demand professions; and employers like to cut corners by creating a competitive landscape without needing to increase salaries. Charette goes on in his article to show that this myth of a job shortage has been going on since after World War Two. He advises the reader to consider the nature of supply and demand. If there were a true lapse in STEM educated professionals the remaining professionals out of employment would be offered incentives to fill gaps. Instead, we are finding an increase in pressure from non-governmental institutions on the government to allow cheap labor into the United States via the H-1B visas. To put it succinctly: "[H]aving an oversupply of workers, [...] is to [a company's] benefit. It gives employers a larger pool [...] and it helps keep wages in check. [...] Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, said as much when in 2007 he advocated boosting the number of skilled immigrants entering the United States so as to suppress the wages of their U.S. counterparts, which he considered too high."

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This outlook is undermining the local U.S. markets that require students to finance their education on debt and leave students fighting for jobs that are not even related to their degree. He supports this claim by quoting current employment statistics showing many professionals with STEM degrees are indeed working outside of STEM. It is important to note that in the U.K. new jobs in engineering are offering increased wages. He brings this to show that if there were a true shortage in the U.S. employers would be increasing wages drastically. The truth is to the contrary. Charette suggests that there is so much junk information in the wild propping this myth that it would be hard for this hysteria to die down. Throughout the article there were captions taken from the last century showing that many influential Americans have perpetuated this STEM crisis. He sourced from the likes of chairman of Microsoft Bill Gates, the 1954 president of MIT James Killian, and the U.S. Office of Education Research and Improvement. The comments are surprising considering their similarities. Without the listed dates, it would be difficult to surmise that the comments were spread over a time period of nearly 80 years. The same fear, uncertainty, and doubt has been perpetuated for so long that this issue has become a multi-generational issue for Americans. Playing devils advocate, if this were a true crisis history shows that current methods of combatting it is not effective in solving the problem. Charette's closing arguments call for stop incentivizing STEM to allow students to become well rounded in their education. While the skills taught in STEM spark intellectual curiosity, according to the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, it does not create well-rounded employees who can "think broadly, read and write clearly." Unfortunately for STEM students, it is this ability that will accelerate their careers and offer them professional opportunities after matriculation.

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Works Cited Charette, Robert N. "The STEM Crisis Is a Myth." IEEE Spectrum Sept. 2013: 44-48. Print.