With science and mathematics education still being a problem within the United States, it has been proven that science and mathematics education is a problem throughout the nation. Thanks to “Skill Shortage Clouds Prospects for British Energy” by Louise Loftus, showed that it is also a great problem in Europe as well.
Reading the article the audience has to be towards the Nation. The description of Universities not having engineering programs is a big result in the lack of science and mathematics programs beginning in secondary school. Loftus quoted Mr. Smithers saying “’ Expert and enthusiastic teachers that will motivate and encourage pupils are in chronically short supply in individual science subjects, particularly physics and chemistry’”. The 2008 study found that one in four secondary schools in Britain do not have a physics teacher, and the number rose to one in two in inner London, and was shown that it was soon to get worse. Statistics still shown through the 2008 study showed “26 percent more physics teachers were leaving or retiring than were being recruited” (Loftus,2010,paragraph6) Though the author makes a clear argument that there is a lack of math and science educated students he wrote, in 2007-2008 showed that “76 percent of British-domiciled students who graduate from engineering and technology degrees were in full time work… were employed in other sectors, like financial services” (Loftus,2010,paragraph9)
The author’s statistics make a clear creditability on the problem. He sites them very well and makes the statistics sound reliable. The sites are not clear on where we can find the evidence, but it is clear on where the evidence is coming from. The only statistics that did not make creditability were those that did not have a specific place that we could actually go back to look on; which I believe was only twice. Other than that is seems like the entire article is mainly sited back to a report made by RenewableUK, which is an umbrella organization for the British wind and marine energy industry, and also direct quotes from certain people. Something else that makes the article quite creditable is the author did a lot of research on the topic which was proven by how many statistics he used throughout the article.
Louise Loftus made sure to twine in pathos into the article as well. The way he stated true facts of how great the problem is and how it is affecting Europe does connect you emotionally. It makes you have a sense of how we will be able to fix it and also ask why schools as to secondary school not having a physics teacher and Universities not having engineering degrees or programs. Connecting his audience such as students to professors, and even just people in general really lets you know how important the problem is. After reading the article I believe the author really just wanted to let people know how there is a great deal of problems with students not being interested in math and or science. Hopefully with the article people can really understand that there really is a serious problem that needs to be fix and individuals that have the power to fix it should fix it.
As the reader you found plenty of logos throughout the article. Paragraph after paragraph you found a good amount of evidence. The evidence that was given was not just evidence that Louise Loftus had knowledge of, but evidence that was clearly sited from well-known studies in Europe. Unlike other articles that are written Skill Shortage Clouds Prospects for British Energy had a large quantity of evidence that made you really want to continue reading the article. I did not really see if the author was bias, besides him getting straight to the point of the argument. Loftus did not take any side of the problem from what I read; the article just had a sense of getting the problem straight out in the public.
The strategies Loftus used was basically straight forward. He did not try to ease up to the main problem, but let the reader know what was going on, how nothing was being done to fix it and how we need to fix it soon. I would have to say one of the article’s strengths would be that I felt like it was a very strong article with a lot of valid evidence, and with that another strength would be the quantity of evidence that made the article strong. Some can say that might be a weakness, but with a strong article comes a strong reaction.
I had no clue how big the problem of low mathematics and science knowledge in general was until I read this article. Louise Loftus really let the reader know how deep the nation is in education today. From my last studies they have shown how it is the students’ responsibilities learning and enjoying the subjects, but in all reality it starts with the schools. How can the student begin to have interests in math or science if the school does not show interests in those subjects themselves? Schools need to get with the program just the way they expect students to. Schools throughout the nation need to really make math and science their first priority if they want to find progress in the situation. The article stated the problems begin in secondary schools due to the lack of physics teachers, so the nation needs to start looking for any type of physics educated individuals to show students it is worth getting to like the subject. It is just the same for Universities, like Mr. O’Neil stated “We want to hire, but there just aren’t enough kids coming out of university with the right qualifications for us.”
Reference:
Louise Loftus. (2010). Skill Shortage Clouds Prospects for British Energy, New York Times
Website. Retrieved from www.newyorktimes.com
Special Report: International Education
Skill Shortage Clouds Prospects for British Energy
By LOUISE LOFTUS
Published: October 18, 2010
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — A lack of engineering and technical skills in Britain poses a serious threat to the country’s ability to expand its renewable-energy industry, according to those who work in the field, a problem that analysts say is rooted in a lack of emphasis on science education in British schools and universities.
An engineer works near the Atlantis Resources tidal energy turbine in Invergordon, Scotland.
A report this year by RenewableUK, an umbrella organization for the British wind and marine energy industry, has warned that there are not enough trained and experienced workers in the industry to install, run or maintain the technology that it will require to achieve its full potential.
The group says action is needed to encourage science subjects at secondary schools and relevant engineering degrees at universities. It says professional development courses are also needed to allow workers to develop new skills that the sector will demand.
Alan Smithers, director of the Center for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said the problems stemmed from the current structure of science education.
“Expert and enthusiastic teachers that will motivate and encourage pupils are in chronically short supply in individual science subjects, particularly physics and chemistry,” Mr. Smithers said.
A 2008 study by the center found that one in four secondary schools in Britain did not even have a physics teacher. That number rose to one in two in inner London and was on track to worsen, since 26 percent more physics teachers were leaving or retiring than were being recruited.
The number of students studying physics at A level — the second, or advanced, level of British secondary-school examinations, used as a qualifying test for university entry — dropped by about half, to just over 28,000 in 2005, from a peak of 55,728 in 1982, according to a study published in 2006 by Mr. Smithers and a colleague, Dr. Pamela Robinson.
In 2008, the Labour government under Prime Minister Gordon Brown introduced an initiative to promote the sciences in primary and secondary schools, and Mr. Smithers said the situation had improved slightly since then. But he said that science student numbers, which had dropped sharply in the past decade, were still a long way from returning to past levels and that a large part of the problem was convincing students that math and sciences led to attractive careers with opportunities and a financial premium.
“This is starting to be felt,” he said. “But it will take some time to turn it around.”
The long-term shrinkage of Britain’s industrial base, relative to financial services, has not helped. The most recent figures, for 2007-2008, show that, even before the recession, only 76 percent of British-domiciled students who graduated from engineering and technology degrees were in full time work or further study six months after graduation, and many of those were employed in other sectors, like financial services.
“Financial industries can use the quantitative skills that an engineering or a maths degree provides,” Mr. Smithers said. Inevitably, many of the best students have been drawn into financial careers in search of better job security and higher salaries.
They include Bryan O’Neill, who graduated from Strathclyde University, in Glasgow, with a degree in electrical and mechanical engineering in 2004, and quickly realized that the best opportunities for someone with his qualifications were in the financial sector.
“Finance seemed to offer better money, better opportunities and give you the option of working in London or New York — it felt exciting,” he said.
Mr. O’Neill took a job at a global financial services company but found that while he enjoyed his work, he could not get used to the environment at the company and the people he worked with.
Four years ago, he noticed an increase in openings for traditional engineering jobs, and in 2007 he joined Frazer-Nash, a leading British engineering consultancy company, where he is now a consultant and senior engineer in the electrical control and instrumentation team. “I noticed more and more jobs springing up with a renewable-energy focus and went after them,” he said. “I get a real kick out of what we are trying to do now. The work is so much more rewarding.”
Some universities have noticed this shift and are adjusting their curriculums. Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, and Kingston University London now offer a one-year postgraduate course in renewable engineering to give engineering graduates the skills for what they see as a rapidly expanding sector.
Heriot-Watt’s prospectus describes the course as capable of delivering graduates “of a caliber capable of developing and implementing creative solutions to the problems encountered in renewable energy capture, conversion, storage and management.”
“We have a reasonable number of students coming to the course,” said Kevin McCullough, director of teaching at the Engineering School at Heriot-Watt. “We’re optimistic about where we’re going.”
Meanwhile, however, British universities, after enduring substantial cuts to their annual budgets over the past year, face the prospect of further cuts under the government’s plans, to be announced this week, to shrink its budget deficit and debt.
And even leaving aside that funding cut, say engineers like Mr. O’Neill, now 28, the growth in engineering student numbers is not happening fast enough.
“When I’m recruiting for my company, the situation is very different from when I graduated,” Mr. O’Neil said. “We want to hire, but there just aren’t enough kids coming out of university with the right qualifications for us.”
Mr. O’Neill added, “That’s the problem the industry is going to have in moving forward.”
