[quote=poorgradstudent][quote=njtosd]What is the answer? Pay science and math teachers more to lure science-y types to teaching. Not sure whether the unions would permit that. But when you look at the fact that California’s big industries – agriculture, high tech, biotech and pharma all are dependent on a supply of people with math and science capabilities, something has to be done.[/quote]

Well, like those of you who work for QCOM and associated industries and like to complain about the number of foreign visas, the fact is right now we don’t really NEED more science grads for biotech and pharma. The current pipeline is fine, and it’s arguably not a growth industry.

It’s funny when we talk about STEM, we really mean “TE”, specially those with computer programming skills. There’s actually a glut of biologists, and we’re fine on chemists.[/quote]

Perhaps a glut of PhD biologists, but a quick search of the Indeed job board has 54 listings for “biologists” in San Diego. Not everyone has to be a PhD to be a scientist (and from a patent standpoint, I prefer a creative BS or MS person over a professional student PhD). Which is not to say that all BS/MS people are creative or all PhDs are professional students – just saying that the emphasis on PhDs is sometimes misplaced, in my opinion.