The Hechinger Report – Tara García Mathewson
“Nationwide, ninth-graders don’t usually take physics. In fact, the majority of the nation’s seniors will graduate having never taken physics at all. And Sarita’s students, Spanish-speaking Latinos attending a high-poverty school, are an even unlikelier bunch to catch in a physics lab. Physics is widely considered to be a building block for a range of STEM disciplines— science, technology, engineering and math — and taking the course in high school is strongly correlated with getting a degree in a STEM field. Educators, policymakers and the general public agree that education in STEM is important. STEM occupations, jobs data show, pay more, and employment in STEM fields has grown at a faster rate than overall job growth.” (more)