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Why Are Fewer People Studying Science and Engineering?

2015-02-20 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:46 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Back from a SciShow sponsor press tour in New York, Hank argues that fewer people study science and engineering partly because of the myth that some are born good at math and because STEM is sold to teenagers as a panicked route to a good job; learning should follow interest, with science and the liberal arts together.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting: Hank is home again after a trip to New York City

00:00:10 — Why he was in New York: press tours for SciShow's big new sponsor Emerson; this is not a branded video

  • ★★ Hank says he was in New York doing press tours about science education because SciShow just got a big new sponsor. — 00:00:10 · New York City, SciShow
  • ★★ Hank says Vlogbrothers has never done a branded video and this is not one; the sponsor does not know he is making it. — 00:00:17 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank says SciShow's ads with Emerson are not about selling its products, which ordinary people would never buy; Emerson needs scientists and engineers to solve big problems. — 00:00:23 · SciShow

00:00:33 — Emerson needs scientists and engineers as fewer people earn STEM degrees; Hank shares the worry because scientists and engineers solve big problems

  • ★★ Hank says Emerson is worried because fewer people graduate with STEM degrees and more of them go to work for big new companies like Google, SpaceX and Tesla. — 00:00:40 · Google
  • ★★ Hank shares the worry for his own reasons: he mostly hires humanities people, but scientists and engineers solve big problems like clean water and powering modern life without destroying the world. — 00:00:49
  • ★★ Hank says the STEM toolkit is very valuable and is being developed less often by people. — 00:01:15

00:01:20 — Why fewer people study STEM: it is hard, the myth of people born good at math, and selling STEM to teenagers as the only route to a good job; learn driven by interest, with science and liberal arts together

  • ★★ Asked on TV and radio why fewer people study STEM, Hank says he is no expert but guesses many reasons, one being that it is really hard and often sugarcoated. (hedged) — 00:01:20
  • ★★★ Hank calls the idea that scientists and engineers are a type of person just born good at math a dangerous myth: everyone he knows found the degree really hard, as he did. — 00:01:38

  • ★★★ Hank says nobody is born good at math; the only thing the scientists he knows share is that they like the challenge, a passion for solving hard problems. — 00:01:56

    “Nobody is born being good at math.”

  • ★ Hank says non-science problems need solving too, which is why he hires many artists, animators and video editors. — 00:02:16

  • ★★★ Hank says pushing teenagers into STEM because it is the only way to a good job is a terrible thing to do to a 15-year-old, telling them to start panicking a decade early. (hedged) — 00:02:24
  • ★★★ Hank says STEM learning should be treated like any big problem, one step at a time, driven by interests and fascinations rather than the end goal. — 00:02:48
  • ★★★ Hank says the most interesting toolkit includes both science, technology and engineering and the liberal arts, the education he had and is grateful for. — 00:02:58
  • ★★ Hank says a science and engineering career path is open to everyone. — 00:03:08

00:03:11 — Wrap-up: the ad is running now; Tour Because Awesome East Coast in April; sign-off

  • ★ Hank says the advertisement he made with Emerson, encouraging interest in science, is running now and linked below. — 00:03:17
  • ★★ Hank announces he will be back in April with Harry and the Potters, Driftless Pony Club, Andrew Huang and Rob Scallon, about eight stops from Chicago to New York: Tour Because Awesome East Coast. — 00:03:29 · Chicago (city), New York City

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Emerson Electric · fixed mindset · Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

Also: People: Andrew Huang · Rob Scallon

Projects: SciShow · Tour Because Awesome

Organizations: Google · SpaceX · Tesla, Inc. · Tumblr

Groups: Driftless Pony Club · Harry and the Potters

Concepts: Humanities · liberal arts education · mathematics

Places: Chicago (city) · East Coast of the United States · New York City

Also centred on fixed mindset: How to Get Good at Everything

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