Rambling thoughts

I have really noticed lately the lack of teachers who are able or willing to teach high school mathmatics and the upper level science courses. I have debated, internally, why this is the case. With such a focus on English Language Arts and Mathmatics, have we stopped teaching our kids about the wonders of the science world? Have lost focus and stopped wondering how things work or are created? Have we stopped questioning? Have we stopped wondering? It would be interesting to see the enrollments of the engineering schools. Have they declined in the past decade? Have we squashed creativity so much that we have all become the status quo? The job market seems to say we have stopped wondering, creating, questioning. There is a movement in the Math and Science worlds that creates curriculum for classes called STEM. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Teachers of STEM have the opportunity to encourage creativity, wonder, questioning in the classroom. I sincerely hope that this is the beginning of a movement to return to what this country originally contained and that was a country full of opportunities to create, build, discover and wonder. That is why we were one of the greatest nations at one time. We surpassed other countries with our inventions and discoveries. This doesn't have to just begin in a middle school STEM class but it can begin in the elementary level. As teachers of K-6 we can inspire children to discover, question and wonder. We could start a moevment. Now that is an exciting thought.