This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
If degrees taken this spring by students from Utah's major universities are any indication, Don Gale doesn't have anything to worry about ("STEM education is good, but not good enough," Opinion, May 10).
As I recall, the Tribune's reports of degrees received by major field of study showed, of the top 10-15 majors, none was in the engineering, science and math fields. Business/business administration was on top, followed by majors in the social sciences, health, education and other non-scientific fields.
Those statistics follow those of the nation, wherein of the approximate 1.8 million bachelor degrees awarded several years ago, a full one-third were in business and social science.
While I support more emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math education leading up to college, if students' interest ends there as far as pursuing it as a career goes, it seems America will continue to be technologically aced-out by its competitors, and students' STEM education will not be used to its full advantage.
Steve Wilde
Sandy