Reflections on a Champion of STEM Education

I just completed my last college visit, thank goodness, and now we sit and wait in uncertainty. Will an acceptance letter come from our daughter's top choice, or will she have to reconsider? For now, we do our best to calm nerves and preserve sanity.

As we face the uncertainty brought on by the election, I find myself celebrating President Obama as a champion of education, STEM in particular. From the Educate to Innovate to CS for All initiatives, the Obama White House has promoted STEM education to help all children and youth uncover interests and abilities and prepare for fulfilling careers. He's lead coalitions between government and industry to fund and expand the numbers of students who reap the benefits. As policies of the next administration are uncertain, so is the direction of federally-funded STEM education. These thoughts are sobering when Nate Silver's analysis shows that education differentiated who voted for whom.

By U.S. Navy Photo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons