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Trump admin finally does something right, boosting STEM in schools

B

Bowler

Member
https://www.fastcompany.com/4047266...gle-to-boost-stem-education-in-public-schools

President Trump will sign a presidential memorandum this afternoon that commits the administration to expanding access to STEM and computer science education, senior White House officials tell Fast Company. As part of that initiative, the administration will devote at least $200 million per year in grant funding to this priority, as well as other actions to increase the focus on computer science in K-12 and post-secondary programs.
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Our country is facing a challenge that it hasn’t had to address in two generations: reworking the education system to keep pace with advancing technology. In the 1950s, the race to space drove schools to start teaching physics. Today, it’s all about computer science. Microsoft looks forward to partnering with other companies, non-profit groups, and the federal and state governments to help bring computer science into America’s mainstream education curriculum. It’s good for our country, our businesses, and most importantly, our nation’s young people
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I'm surprised this was spearheaded by ivanka and not Devoys, but regardless it's a step in the right direction for schools, and even better that there is support from the bigs like MS, Google, Amazon, and apple.
 
T

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
But science is a lie.
 
Z

Zolo

Member
Bowler said:
I'm surprised this was spearheaded by ivanka and not Devoys, but regardless it's a step in the right direction for schools, and even better that there is support from the bigs like MS, Google, Amazon, and apple.
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So Ivanka should head education instead of Devos?
 
B

benicillin

Banned
Considering they're trying to fuck over the entire public school system and cut billions of dollars from the federal budget, don't look at 200mil a year as anything other than PR bullshit.
 
E

ElectricBanquet

Member
My biggest question is how is it decided what share of the money each school will get. This sounds like a good thing provided poor/minority kids don't get shafted.
 
B

benicillin

Banned
He wants to cut 10 billion dollars from the federal education budget but throws "at least 200 million a year" for good PR.

This is so dishonest. It's literally meaningless.
 
B

Bowler

Member
If this gets physics classes back into high schools then it worked. Could not believe how many schools cut the class in the past 5 years.

The issue of public education is far more serious, and been a issue for quite sometime. Not something Trump has done.
 
C

Coolluck

Member
Bowler said:
If this gets physics classes back into high schools then it worked. Could not believe how many schools cut the class in the past 5 years.

The issue of public education is far more serious, and been a issue for quite sometime. Not something Trump has done.
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Hold up, what?! How was that even considered an option for schools to do?
 
X

Xe4

Banned
$200 million/year ain't shit. Considering the sheer number of schools that would be vying for the money, either very few schools will actually get a decent amount, or more will get jack shit.

Not to mention the prick is trying to cut the DoE. But yay for broken clocks, I guess.
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
Coolluck said:
Hold up, what?! How was that even considered an option for schools to do?
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None of the dozen or so schools I worked for 1-4 years ago had removed physics, and those were tiny rural schools. What they did however was make it an elective to satisfy science requirements rather than make it required like it was at my high school.
 
W

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
It would be better if it was going to help boost women for STEM, that way we can clean up the mess that is Silicon Valley
 
M

MidnightCowboy

Member
STEM should for sure be pushed, I'm all for it, but I wish there was as big an emphasis on the arts as it seems there is for STEM. I know it offers greater job security and it's only going to be more and more useful as we develop new technologies, but some people's brains just aren't suited for that stuff. Coding is big amongst kids now, why isn't creative writing?
 
K

kess

Member
People fall for these tactics every single time, like they need to give people with bad intentions the benefit the benefit of the doubt somehow. Republicans were trying to pass a bill last year "funding" NASA but compromising the independence of the National Science Foundation and everybody on the internet fell for it. It's lip service for Reddit Republicans.
 
T

Trey

Member
This is likely nothing but another way to give public funds to private corporations under the guise of doing something for our future. If he and his administration was really about that action, this money would go directly to infrastructure for our failing schools, subsidizing school lunches to make them free, increasing teacher pay so they don't have to come out of pocket to provide school supplies for their students, and so on and so forth. If any of the money does any of that, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Coming up with bloc money so the best schools (i.e, not the schools that necessarily need the funds) can have iPads and drones to dick around with is not a great investment. Sounds like they're just giving a 200 million dollar check to corporate tech giants as a show of good faith after they became critical of the administration as of late.
 
B

benicillin

Banned
You wanna know what a commitment looks like? Not cutting 10 billion dollars from the federal education budget.

A year ago Obama proposed a 4 BILLION DOLLAR program to boost STEM across the country.

WASHINGTON, DC —In this week’s address, the President discussed his plan to give all students across the country the chance to learn computer science (CS) in school. The President noted that our economy is rapidly shifting, and that educators and business leaders are increasingly recognizing that CS is a “new basic” skill necessary for economic opportunity. The President referenced his Computer Science for All Initiative, which provides $4 billion in funding for states and $100 million directly for districts in his upcoming budget; and invests more than $135 million beginning this year by the National Science Foundation and the Corporation for National and Community Service to support and train CS teachers.
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Don't fall for this bullllllshit.
 
I

ibyea

Banned
I think it's good. That said, I am far more concerned about the state of art education in public schools, because they have been absolutely demolished in my state.

Edit:
And this too:
benicillin said:
You wanna know what a commitment looks like? Not cutting 10 billion dollars from the federal education budget.

A year ago Obama proposed a 4 BILLION DOLLAR program to boost STEM across the country.



Don't fall for this bullllllshit.
Click to expand...
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
Also I'd rather see a larger federal focus on curbing our high tuition costs. While improving K-12 is a good thing it's not going to do much if people still can't afford higher education.
 
D

dramatis

Member
Coolluck said:
Hold up, what?! How was that even considered an option for schools to do?
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Just for example, in Kansas, they chopped from education dollars to finance budget shortfalls.

Kansas has a budget shortfall because their Republican state government and their Republican governor cut taxes believing Kansas would become a super growth, super economically prosperous state with tons of jobs. Instead their budget hole is climbing towards 1 billion and the state GOP can't think of any way to fill their budget except by cutting education funds.

The schools are forced into such options, not because it was acceptable but because they have no choices.
 
Z

Zaphrynn

Member
benicillin said:
He wants to cut 10 billion dollars from the federal education budget but throws "at least 200 million a year" for good PR.

This is so dishonest. It's literally meaningless.
Click to expand...

This.

It's like borrowing $100 from your friend, then buying them McDonald's later and acting like it makes up for it.
 
D

Dan

No longer boycotting the Wolfenstein franchise
benicillin said:
He wants to cut 10 billion dollars from the federal education budget but throws "at least 200 million a year" for good PR.

This is so dishonest. It's literally meaningless.
Click to expand...
Yup. Making a big show over a relatively small program while quietly gutting the real stuff in the background.

Plus letting Ivanka get some undeserved PR boost while avoiding being properly held accountable for the rest of the administration.
 
K

kess

Member
The worst about this is that they know what looks good and will play well to a wide audience but are selectively killing off the same programs on a larger scale because, well, that's what Republicans do.
 
P

pa22word

Member
I don't know about other states, but I kinda agree that the schooling system in the US needs to become more efficient. Here in OK due to "muh limited government" there's so many pointless small school districts that do nothing but churn government money while putting out shit tier education. Probably a third of the schools in the state could be consolidated and more of that money could *potentially* (we all know how state governments can be in preferential treatment, after all) be siphoned back to schools in the cities that truly need it.

I'm probably a bit of a radical in this regard though. I honestly wouldn't mind regional schools that house kids during the school year and ship them home during the weekend+breaks for people who live too far away to drive them back and forth and/or busing daily is too expensive and/or long of a distance to be practical. Quality of the education matters more than inconveniencing parents, imo. At the end of the day the US is rapidly urbanizing so I really don't see small town schools being long for the world anyways and sending kids to local schools that are so underfunded they have seniors who can't even pass freshman algebra is an embarrassment to the country that needs to be fixed, and I don't think it can be done just through taxation alone.
 
S

Shake Appeal

Member
The STEM bandwagon is kind of silly at this point. There isn't even a shortage of coders or engineers in America. As a country, we're churning out far more computer science grads than there are available entry-level jobs.

And newsflash: It's far easier to automate coding than a lot of other "soft" skills, including sharp writing. Do you know what are the safest future jobs? Ones that require empathy, personal interaction, and original composition, three things computers struggle far more with than doing engineering tasks or iterating on code. Robots will make good surgeons before they make good nurses.

I'd honestly prefer we dumped more money into philosophy and critical reading skills for our kids. It's a safer long-term bet on human potential and progress.
 
P

pa22word

Member
Shake Appeal said:
The STEM bandwagon is kind of silly at this point. There isn't even a shortage of coders or engineers in America. As a country, we're churning out far more computer science grads than there are available entry-level jobs.
Click to expand...

This is ultimately the biggest problem to government spending as the solution to all things schooling: it's too reactionary and too slow to make any sort of difference to what the market actually needs, which operates entirely in real time. The best thing government can do is try to give the broadest and best range of skillsets to prepare students for college where they can try their own hands at where they think the market is going to be for their skills rather than government putting all its money into one bank.
 
B

BlackDoomShadow

Member
I'd be more impressed if he was funding the arts. STEM is important, but we have far too many tech-bros with no empathy or personal communication skills in America right now.
 
S

Saucycarpdog

Member
Let's not give Trump credit here. Boosting STEM is a no brainier for anyone who doesn't want to look like they're dismantling public education.

Let's see his actual Education plan first.
 
E

ElectricBanquet

Member
pa22word said:
This is ultimately the biggest problem to government spending as the solution to all things schooling: it's too reactionary and too slow to make any sort of difference to what the market actually needs, which operates entirely in real time. The best thing government can do is try to give the broadest and best range of skillsets to prepare students for college where they can try their own hands at where they think the market is going to be for their skills rather than government putting all its money into one bank.
Click to expand...
I also wish colleges were doing a better job of guiding students to degrees that are actually going to fit what the needs of the market are. I talked to a girl recently who's in her first year of college and she hasn't bothered talking to one of the school's career counselors. She said I'm the only one who's even suggested it. There are way too many students coming out of college and having a tough time getting a good paying job for schools to have an attitude of "just pick a degree - we don't care which one."
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Shake Appeal said:
The STEM bandwagon is kind of silly at this point. There isn't even a shortage of coders or engineers in America. As a country, we're churning out far more computer science grads than there are available entry-level jobs.

And newsflash: It's far easier to automate coding than a lot of other "soft" skills, including sharp writing. Do you know what are the safest future jobs? Ones that require empathy, personal interaction, and original composition, three things computers struggle far more with than doing engineering tasks or iterating on code. Robots will make good surgeons before they make good nurses.

I'd honestly prefer we dumped more money into philosophy and critical reading skills for our kids. It's a safer long-term bet on human potential and progress.
Click to expand...

I'm a math teacher, and I 100% agree with this.

The STEM push is simply based on not looking good in international testing, which is a flawed system to begin with.
 
5

5taquitos

Member
Shake Appeal said:
I'd honestly prefer we dumped more money into philosophy and critical reading skills for our kids. It's a safer long-term bet on human potential and progress.
Click to expand...
This flies in the face of the Republican agenda of making the voting populace dumber than the bricks they're laying for the border wall.
 
R

radios shipping overview

Member
This doesn't seem any different from the cuts to K-12 arts programs we've seen for years.

Will this include funding for health classes that actually teach the science of safe sex?
 
M

Muppet of a Man

Member
MidnightCowboy said:
STEM should for sure be pushed, I'm all for it, but I wish there was as big an emphasis on the arts as it seems there is for STEM. I know it offers greater job security and it's only going to be more and more useful as we develop new technologies, but some people's brains just aren't suited for that stuff. Coding is big amongst kids now, why isn't creative writing?
Click to expand...

There's an acronym and teaching methodology for that: S.T.E.A.M.

You need people who are engineers to be visually expressive. Teaching the arts to engineers empowers them to utilize their skills in a creative fashion, something that is desperately needed in these days of hyper-specialization.
 
H

Hierophant

Banned
its just a race to make programmers and engineers so ubiquitous that they have little to no bargaining power in terms of their wages
 
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