A new report contends that there’s a “new stem gap”: a disconnect between students who say they plan to pursue STEM careers and those who demonstrate a genuine interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The study by the ACT organization looks at the “expressed and measured interests” of the 1.8 million high school graduates from the class of 2013 who took the ACT college-readiness assessment. In other words, it compares the careers students said they would pursue (expressed) against the types of work tasks they preferred based on a battery of questions (measured).
Nearly 1 in 10 graduates showed a preference for STEM-type activities but indicated no interest in a STEM career. Almost a quarter of students (23 percent) expressed an interest in pursuing a STEM major or career but not in STEM-type tasks.
