Annette Jacobson talks STEM with PBS Newshour
Chemical Engineering Professor Annette Jacobson has published an op-ed in PBS Newshour on the unintended consequences of our all-STEM-all-the-time approach to pre-college education.
Chemical Engineering Professor Annette Jacobson has published an op-ed in PBS Newshour on the unintended consequences of our all-STEM-all-the-time approach to pre-college education. In addition to her professorship, Jacobson is the associate dean of undergraduate studies at the College of Engineering and director of the Colloids, Polymers and Surfaces Laboratory.
While Jacobson agrees that it is important for students entering STEM majors to be adequately prepared, she argues that one-track nature of this preparation can often leave students in the lurch. By forcing them to decide on a career track early in life and pursue it, parents and educators run the risk of pigeonholing students into narrow, and uninformed decisions about their future.
In her role as Dean, Jacobson has worked with countless incoming engineering students to determine their academic path. It’s these years of experience that have informed her unique perspective—that parents and educators should hold off on pushing STEM.
Photo by Getty Images