Families & the Community News in Brief

Poll: Parents Take Dim View of Careers in STEM Teaching

By Anthony Rebora — March 29, 2016 1 min read
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A poll from the nonprofit group ASQ (formerly the American Society for Quality) finds that while 90 percent of parents would encourage their children to pursue a career in a STEM field, 87 percent said they would be “concerned” if that career happened to be as a K-12 teacher.

In all, the survey found only 9 percent of the 644 parents participating would encourage their children to pursue a career as a science, technology, engineering, or math teacher.

In a separate poll, ASQ found only 29 percent of educators surveyed said they would encourage their own children to pursue that path as a STEM-related career option. That poll was conducted online among 185 ASQ members who self-identified as educators.

Both groups polled cited low compensation as a prime reason for their views.

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A version of this article appeared in the March 30, 2016 edition of Education Week as Poll: Parents Take Dim View of Careers in STEM Teaching

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