In this uncertain (ok fine, terrifying) economic climate, much has been made of the dearth of job opportunities for the more physically inclined among us. We're talking about good old-fashioned blue collar industrial jobs, the stuff of steel lunchboxes and hard hats. As many have reminded us, jobs in the manufacturing sector that have moved onto greener/non-unionized pastures are most likely never to return.
So if it won't be the muscle men and ladies who are the driving force behind America's eventual economic resurgence, then who shall it be? Well if the chief of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to believed, it is the geeks who shall lead us to salvation. The only problem is, we're running dangerously low on geeks.
In a statement delivered to the House Armed Services Committee's panel on terrorism two weeks ago, DARPA head Regina Dugan voiced the agency's concerns about the shortage of young people gravitating towards career paths leading to what she terms as "STEM" or science, technology, engineering, and math. So how exactly does Dugan expect to attract more youngsters to noble careers in the nerdly arts? Well, if she insists on referring to DARPA personnel as an "elite army of futuristic technogeeks," she might find herself having a tough time.
In the past, Dugan has proposed everything from career days to scholarships as a means to attract kids to STEM. Now it seems she and the agency are taking a more outside-the-box approach. "Additional ideas include the development of an [iPhone] application ‘marketplace' devoted to STEM that would post challenges such as ‘apps to teach electronics' or ‘apps to teach radar' or just ‘coolest app with a practicle use,'" she said.
The apps aren't the most unorthodox of Dugan's proposals however. Take "Box O' Radar" for example. The program would give kids in the classroom the opportunity to build and test their own radar devices. Because kids who are already being stuffed into their lockers for professing their love of building model rockets (you know who you are) are really going to be clamoring to be labeled as radar enthusiasts.
Dugan has expressed the need to create initiatives "targeted to middle and high school students and include methods to maintain a positive, long-term presence in a student's education." So basically DARPA proposes to use the same methods the tobacco industry has spent years perfecting as a means to increase interest in math and science, and honestly it's probably not the dumbest idea in the world.
If STEM jobs are to become truly attractive options for undecided high school and college students it is going to take a full court press by both government entities like DARPA and the private sector to push the many selling points of the industry. Dugan's proposals seem to be a good start, but it is going to take a continued innovative approach to get kids excited about the possibilities of a future in STEM. After all, these are the kinds of jobs that should be able to sell themselves, as everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to the Google Guys has proven over the past several years: nerds finish first.
