Many high school students are interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but very few of them want to teach in those fields, a situation that doesn’t bode well for the shortage of good teachers in STEM fields, according to a new study.
The study, released last month by ACT Inc., examines data gathered from 1.8 million students in the class of 2014 who took ACT exams. Just under half of those students said they were interested in STEM subjects, but only 4,424 expressed interest in teaching math, and 1,115 were interested in teaching science.
The report also suggests that students’ interest in STEM subjects outweighs their preparedness. Half or fewer of the students who indicated an interest in STEM fields met or exceeded ACT’s college-readiness benchmarks in math or science.
