My topic idea has not really changed since my first blog post. I still want to talk about why STEM classes are not as diverse as other classes. STEM classes are mainly filled with white and Asian males. There is a lack of women and minorities.
According to a general google search, diversity for STEM has stagnated since 2001. The reason why there has not been any change in STEM diversity for almost 20 years is for two main reasons. First of all, there is just an overall lack of interest for STEM classes amongst women and minorities. Furthermore, minorities are oftentimes at a disadvantage because their high schools do not have advanced placement STEM classes. This information can be found on this website.
An important scholarly source that addresses this topic is Diversifying STEM: Multidisciplinary Perepctives on Race and Gender. In this book, Ebony O. McGee and William H. Robinson provide many statistics on why STEM classes are not diverse.
Although this book has many of the same ideas as the website mentioned previously, it also incorporates two other major points. First, an overall sense of racism and sexism is offputting to women and minorities so they are less likely to be STEM majors. On top of that, the increasing cost of tuition makes it difficult for minorities to afford college at all. Talent is being wasted because even when a minority actually has the potential and will to overcome the odds, the student cannot fulfill his/her dream because of a monetary issue.
There is really no controversy to this topic. The statistics prove that minorities and women only make up a tiny portion of the STEM population.
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ReplyDeleteA "controversy" is generally NOT a dispute about facts; it is a dispute about how to interpret those facts, or what to do about them. In this case, you should look into what people are doing to address the problem, or what different approaches to improving diversity in STEM have been tried. Is it a question of money? Instructional methods? Do you have to start in high school or middle school to get more diversity in college? Or can colleges do more to increase diversity?
ReplyDeleteYou might also look at specific data. I was able to track down some math data here for Rutgers -- click on "Completions" and look up Mathematics General and Statistics maybe -- there is also math education:
https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Facsimile.aspx?unitid=186380
You might also check out the Diversity site at Rutgers to see what programs and initiatives we have locally:
ReplyDeletehttps://diversity.rutgers.edu/
This website seems to have interesting stats on math and stats majors:
ReplyDeletehttps://datausa.io/profile/cip/math-statistics