Introduction
With perennial limitation of funds, there is always the underling question of prioritization in government spending. Within the education sector, there has been an underlying debate between general education and STEM. The proponents of general education argue that basic education to a tertiary level is akin to a fundamental right. The government should, therefore, ensure that all citizens including adults are able to access a basic education. STEM is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. According to the proponents of STEM prioritization, the US economy is in dire need of experts in this field now and in the future. Government funding should, therefore, prioritize on this as technological companies, being the main drivers of the economy are in dire need of specialized labor. However, there is a rising cross section of Americans who lack even an elementary education. STEM is a fundamental academic area for economic improvement, the gains made through this economic improvement are however easily canceled out by the increased levels of general illiteracy.
Breiner, J. M., Harkness, S. S., Johnson, C. C., & Koehler, C. M. (2012). What is STEM? A discussion about conceptions of STEM in education and partnerships. School Science and Mathematics , 112 (1), 3-11.
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STEM is a generally new concept and is defined and outlined in this article. The article contains a general literature review on the issue of STEM, the subjects studied within it and its pros and cons. Its relevance in the overall argument is to show the nature and extent of the concept, its relevance and scope. This will enable the understanding of its general distinction from general education and how its emphasis and prioritization will affect general education for the young and the old alike. From the totality of the foregoing, STEM is an entirely new system of education right from the elementary to the tertiary level. A young student must choose between STEM and general education while an aspiring adult illiterate student is more or less completely closed out. This article brings out insights in regard to STEM and helps to answer the question on suitability of STEM for young students and the illiterate adults.
Johnson, C. C. (2012). Implementation of STEM education policy: Challenges, progress, and lessons learned. School Science and Mathematics , 112 (1), 45-55 .
This is an article that emanates on a research regarding the implementation of the STEM policy by the government. It shows the emphasis of focus that the government has placed over STEM over and above general education. The researchers use archived documents created by the pioneers of the implementation of the STEM policy as well as minutes of meetings held by stakeholders. From the totality of the research, the switch to STEM focus has created an element of confusion as it seeks to overrun general education. There is also a general insufficiency of funds for the envisaged projects. This article confirms that the STEM policy is incompatible when considered alongside general education. It should, therefore, be kept at bay in the interim. In the alternative, the stem program should be segregated from general education to prevent it from sabotaging general education. This article answers issues relating to limited funds and illiteracy as well as limitations of adopting STEM.
Zakaria, F. (2015). Why America’s obsession with STEM education is dangerous. The Washington Post .
This article goes into the core of the argument by statistically establishing that a departure from general and adult education was premature and indeed dangerous. The article, written by a commentator on education issues looks at the current status of education and illiteracy in America. It also provides statistics, which show that over 32 million Americans cannot read with over a fifth of the population having an education below the 5th grade. This, therefore, solidifies the argument that it would be premature to begin diverting monies meant for basic education and take towards a specialized education. Indeed, if the implementation of STEM drains resources as shown by Johnson, (2012) above, America might end up with a few engineers and an illiterate populace.
De Jong, T., Sotiriou, S., & Gillet, D. (2014). Innovations in STEM education: the Go-Lab federation of online labs. Smart Learning Environments , 1 (1), 1-16.
This article gives the steps taken by the purveyors of STEM to work around the hardships emanating from the implementation of the STEM policy. As indicated in Johnson, (2012) above, a general lack of interest is one of the fundamental challenges. The instant article reports on the attempts by the purveyors of STEM to entice general education learners to switch to STEM regimens. This has been conducted through intranet and internet systems with a relatively high level of success. The article agrees that it would be a great option for the implementation of STEM alongside general education as opposed to having STEM instead of general education as both are fundamental.
Vitone, T., Stofer, K. A., Steininger, M. S., Hulcr, J., Dunn, R., & Lucky, A. (2016). School of ants goes to college: integrating citizen science into the general education classroom increases engagement with science. JCOM,15 (1),1-24
The instant article discusses another alternative to the STEM/general education impasse. The article culminates from an active research preceded by a comprehensive literature review. According to the results thereof, the impasse of funding prioritization between STEM and general education can be resolved by combining them. The research clearly shows that a comprehensive integration of STEM into general education will solve the problem of illiteracy alongside that of having too little technically skilled labor. This combination solves the issues of funding indicated in Briener et al, (2012) as well as implementation as indicated in Johnson, (2012) alongside the illiteracy predicament outlined in Zakaria, (2015). Indeed, integration is the means to resolve the current impasse.
