Teaching the students of tomorrow STEM course work is a critically important activity.  In an independent study, sponsored by The Council on Foreign Relations, finds the K-12 school systems are failing to prepare students to grow up and protect the U.S.  There is a concern that “we don’t have enough professionals who are  capable in the STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math,” said former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, a member of the council’s task force that wrote the report, titled “U.S. Education Reform and National Security.”

According to a Fox News report written on April 12, 2012, there are critical areas of concern to national security: threats to economic growth and competitiveness, U.S. physical safety, Intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion. Sadly, the news article also stated that “there is no difference between black and white, rich and poor, when it comes to American schools’ failure to teach skills that could eventually be lifesaving.”

As teachers, we want to prepare our students to be the people most likely to succeed.  It is important for us to embrace that the world is changing and our students need to be prepared for the future world that they will live in.  We need to continue to explore ways to expand state standards to include more lessons necessary for safeguarding national security including science and language.  Parents and students need to seek the programs that will best help their student to fill jobs that will help our nation be protected in the future.  As teachers, all content classrooms need to  support STEM course work.

Sources: Fox News, US Education Reform