CBS News on the engineer shortage
From last night’s broadcast.
Thanks to Tallahassee Community College Physics Professor Jim Carr for pointing this out.
From the report: “America’s high schools are obsolete.”
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June 16, 2011 at 1:20 am
You are welcome.
My two cents is that revisions to financial aid regulations, intended to put a stop to bogus programs that try to milk extra fees out of their students, are hurting our efforts to make up for what the schools have not done. Those changes limit a student to the bare minimum needed to complete a specific degree, such as an AA degree at a community college.
As you know, a student isn’t really ready to transfer into a university engineering program until they have completed three semesters of calculus plus one more of differential equations, two semesters of physics, and a semester of chemistry along with all of your general education (english and humanities) classes. This is pretty tough to do in 3 or 4 semesters unless you enter college with AP credit and/or ready to start calculus as a freshman. Under-prepared students who need a year (or more) of math before calculus — which includes returning veterans with technical skills and others who worked as electricians or mechanics after high school — don’t fit that profile. The result is that they need many more math classes than the standard degree includes. Their choices are to pay for those classes themselves, perhaps adding years to their education while they work full time, or follow an easier path that is less valuable to the nation.