Subsidizing STEM majors

[Kat Kid]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/state-proposal-vary-cost_n_2014802.html

POINT

STEM is important for our economic competitiveness
Too many smart kids are going in to finance
Could encourage more females to enter in to field?

COUNTER-POINT

Salaries already incentivize the market place, aren't students already self-sorting based on lifestyle preference?
How will the most utilitarian majors be chosen, and will the Florida political system be good at anticipating/responding to changes?
Aren't these majors already incentivized (cost of lecturers between majors, lab equipment etc.)

I see some merit, but have some pretty big problems.  What do we think here libertarian/left friends?

[8manpick]

Who cares? We're #1.

[Rams]

Who cares? We're #1.

this should be the name of every board except the football board

[sys]

seems like a fine idea.  prolly won't work, but at least the STEM students, who i assume are better people than the non-STEM students, will save some money.

[CNS]

I am guessing it will increase the drop out rate.  Lots of ppl go in undecided.  May start in a cheaper field and those proposed would be harder class work.  I mean simple stats would tell you that this would increase the amt of kids dropping, right?

*DNfullyR article(skimmed only)

Also, it may get ppl that graduate with those degrees that are not the right personality fit.  A lot of them are detail oriented degrees that lead to extraordinarily detail oriented jobs.  Lots of ppl can fake it for 4 yrs and get a degree, but then end up with ppl that poorly fit the personality mold for the job they will be seeking.  Just spit balling here.

I like the fundamental idea behind it.  Force fulfillment of a need.  Could increase a lot of things as far as income, taxes, bring in industry, etc.  Will be interesting to watch.

[michigancat]

Who is hiring chemists and biology majors? Why are engineers more valuable to society than financiers? Who is to say having a higher volume of mathematicians relative to artists or psychologists is a benefit to society?

I'm pretty sure KK's already seen this, but I'll repost it:

First, the folks pushing STEM degrees clearly haven’t talked to a lot of biology majors. Or chemists. Sure, everyone knows the petroleum engineers are raking it in. But even after Ph.D.’s, many STEM folks are stuck in postdoc hell, and midcareer, the median salary of a biology major is more than $13,000 a year less than her counterpart in political science. Heck, she even comes in almost $4,000 behind the much-maligned film major. Besides, if this is about encouraging students to go into—and I quote—“high-skill, high-demand, high-wage degrees (market determined),” why give the subsidy to STEM? Why not give it to finance majors ($23,500 above the poor biologists) or economists (almost $34,000 above)?

http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2012/11/01/more-stem-majors-wont-solve-higher-educations-problems/

[mancattanite]

I don't really like this idea, even though I'm majoring in a STEM field.

Honestly, a lot of people aren't going to go into a STEM field no matter what.  They simply are not going to be engineers or scientists.  It doesn't seem logical to penalize someone for not being interested in what would get them a good job.  I mean, some people really want to be teachers. Why put someone who isn't going to be making as much money in deeper debt???

Perhaps I'm missing the point of the article.

I've always thought that if we really want more people to going into STEM fields, we need to start it early in school. Place more emphasis on mathematics.  Encourage students to study mathematics.  Help students that don't understand math even more.  There is a stigma about math that it's difficult and not fun.  Trying to force people into STEM fields after they have already been taught that math isn't fun makes things very difficult.  But if students enjoy math in the first place they are much more likely to go into one of these fields.

It is acceptable in society to not understand math.  It isn't acceptable to not be able to read and write. So reading and writing is the primary emphasis, and other subjects are not as emphasized.

I'm just throwing a lot of thoughts out there. I have absolutely no clue how to fix issues with the American education system.

[sys]

yeah, there's a glut of biologists.  we're technically scientists though, so society needs more us, whether they're willing to pay for it or not.

[06wildcat]

yeah, there's a glut of biologists.  we're technically scientists though, so society needs more us, whether they're willing to pay for it or not.

Meh...patents on drugs are expiring every day and chemists will need someone to measure the effects on the lab monkeys.

[michigancat]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vivekranadive/2012/11/13/a-liberal-arts-degree-is-more-valuable-than-learning-any-trade/

[mancattanite]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vivekranadive/2012/11/13/a-liberal-arts-degree-is-more-valuable-than-learning-any-trade/

I wonder how many liberal arts majors his software company hires.