Why Is STEM Education in the US So Important to Big Tech?

The educational and economic fates of Amish children don’t enter the public consciousness. Amish children aren’t part of the equation in the economic future of the United States.

Part 2 of 3 — See This Is How to Grasp What Education in America Is Really About for Part 1

Economy

Economics is another social force that influenced the educational system in the United States. For example, the advent of industrialization meant that companies needed a workforce that was punctual (showed up to work on time), sufficiently competent in certain skills, and followed orders (didn’t challenge the company’s objectives) (Schrager, 2018).

This led into the era of social efficiency progressives (late 1800s to early 1900s), who “called for some schools to continue to offer an academic training to prepare future professionals, while others should prepare carpenters, machinists, or agriculturalists” (Mintz, n.d.). The idea was that some students were better suited for a traditional intellectual education while others were better for vocational skills that fulfilled the needs of the industrial economy. Providing the latter students with more intellectual education would have been a waste.

The Amish go even further with this line of thinking: not only is attaining…