What is it with Science Majors?

[sakky]

<p>

I do care about that, but I care more about decisions that may harm others in addition to the decision-maker.

</p>

<p>Let’s not forget that the decision for an uninspired science grad to obtain a teaching credential would only hurt others if he was actually hired to become a teacher, which is not guaranteed. Obtaining a teaching credential and not being hired would only hurt that person (which would be no different than the same person obtaining a bunch of IT certs yet not being hired for an IT position, which happens routinely). </p>

<p>The decision to hire somebody as a teacher presumably falls to the school’s administrators. It is their job to reject bad candidates, and if they don’t, then you ought to blame them.</p>

[noimagination]

<p>

Then you should be vitally concerned with the public education system as it exists today. Again, let’s face it, plenty of uninspired teachers are working at public schools right now…and many of them are teaching science without even having majored in science at all. Given the choice between an uninspired science teacher who never majored in science vs. an uninspired science teacher who at least did major in science, I think we can all agree that we would prefer the latter. Given that many students today must suffer through uninspired teaching regardless, at least if nothing else you can ensure that the teacher majored in the topic.

Did you read the article I posted? There is no shortage of new STEM majors interested in teaching. The only reason schools have trouble hiring enough qualified teachers is because of dismal retention rates, which are in turn largely due to dissatisfaction with teaching.

And I’m not advocating to change the current system. I’m simply continuing to advance the notion that more of the underemployed natural science majors ought to seriously consider careers as high school science teachers. If nothing else, that certainly seems preferable to avoiding the nightmare described by sschoe2. </p>

<p>Your comments, on the other hand, are ironic for they are indeed systemic in nature. You discuss the potential harm that uninspired teachers might foist upon the students. But that’s a systemic issue that is entirely unhelpful to answering the question of what careers underemployed science grads ought to pursue. I nonetheless am happy to discuss these issues, but we should realize their systemic nature.

The idea of teaching is not a well-kept secret among science students. If prospects for science majors are really so terrible, anyone with the slightest interest in teaching will surely have considered the option. I think it’s bad for everyone involved to push desperate people without an interest in education towards careers in teaching.</p>

[cekelly]

<p>Well, I actually came into college with full intentions of majoring in mathematics, but am now a computer science major. Personnally Ive never come accross a field of science that doesn’t have an engineering equivalent (NOT underpaid if you’re in the right field) so I never felt like I was going to miss out on being s mathematician. I must admit, science and mathematics have ALWAYS been my passion, but in a way thats what made me fall in love within engineering.</p>

[noimagination]

<p>

Noimagination, if there is no shortage of science teachers, then why are many school districts paying signing bonuses for new science teachers, but not teachers of other subjects? Are they just throwing money away?

First, there may be specific regional shortages of graduates in some areas.</p>

<p>Second, it depends what you mean by ‘shortage’. There is indeed a problem with science teacher staffing; however, the real problem is likely retention rather than production. As Ingersoll and Perda tell us:

From the framework of economic theory, an imbalance between teacher demand and supply can technically be referred to as a shortage, in the sense that there is an inadequate quantity of qualified teachers who are able and willing to offer their services at a given wage and given working conditions in given schools. However, in the context of teachers and schools, the term shortage has come to almost always connote an insufficient production of new teachers in the face of high levels of teacher retirements. In turn, reforms typically emphasize increases in the production and recruitment of new teachers. Rarely have commentators or researchers considered the impact of preretirement turnover on these imbalances. These diagnostic and terminological distinctions have crucial implications for prescription and policy.

See the article linked from post #77.</p>

<p>Third, there has been a lot of press and publicity and STEM education and this probably encourages school districts to take action.</p>

[DTBTSE]

<p>One has to remember that one of the majors/concentrations in business school is MANAGEMENT. Another is ACCOUNTING. People who enter the workforce with these degrees are more likely, maybe much more likely, to be calling the shots after a few decades than the worker bees who major in SCIENCE.</p>

<p>Most medium-sized and larger companies seem to have a two-tier employment scheme, a profit-center and a cost-center. Those at the top are the executives, the decision makers, the profit-center. Everyone else, regardless of education or intelligence are considered to work in “operations.” This is the cost-center. And costs always need to be minimized.</p>

[DTBTSE]

<p>It seems that having a degree in science closes out employment opportunities for many if not most. For example, recruiters come to campuses looking for business, engineering, and other practical majors. They ignore most science and liberal arts majors, except for those from top schools or who have excellent grades. It doesn’t really get much better out in the real-world job market.</p>

<p>One career path that was outlined in this thread was for a science major to go into teaching, a low-paying job. The advancement potential was outlined as teacher -> Asst. Principal -> Principal -> Superintendent -> ??? Now, I’m not sure how much science a school superintendent might get to do on a regular basis, but it can’t really be what she or he imagined when they first decided to pursue science.</p>

[sschoe2]

<p>Yep if you want to see what majors are in demand go to the college career fair and see who is attending and what majors they are interested in recuting. I guaratee there will probably be at most one or two companies looking for science grads and they will most likely be crappy staffing agencies.</p>

[DTBTSE]

<p>At my college’s placement office, the -only- company that was seeking bio majors, and not even specifically bio, was a pharmaceutical company which had some sales positions available. I am sure that someone with prior sales experience and only high school would have had a better shot.</p>

<p>All other employers recruiting there were looking for business, nursing, and perhaps math/CS. There might have been one or two looking for English. </p>

<p>If you don’t get that first good job with advancement potential soon after graduation, you might never catch up. You have been warned.</p>

[Mamalumper]

<p>Most of what is written here is very accurate. The job prospects for students majoring in Biology and Chemistry are grim. The biggest problem is the lack of understanding by potential employers of the graduating GPA and skill set of these science majors. The students who major in Undergraduate Science are typically highly intelligent because those subjects are really very difficult. Then to make matters worse the GPA’s of those students are typically lower, many times near or below a 3.0. Science classes are curved to a 75/80 verses curves of 85 in Business or liberal arts. When they then try to get a job in “operations” of a company they are competing against students with these higher GPAs. I think employers just do not understand the difficulty or skills a science major brings to the table which are attention to detail and superior problem solving skills. What a benefit to any Company if they only understood. </p>

<p>My advice to students who want to major in Science because they find it interesting consider pairing it with something else to help you find a job. </p>