AVERAGE SALARY OF
A PETROLEUM
ENGINEERINGMAJOR
$120,000
AVERAGE SALARY
OF A COUNSELING-
PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR
$29,000
22
MAY 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
Next time you catch the kids dismantling the vacuum
cleaner and trying to feed its components to the cat,
a li le praise might be in order. America, it seems, is
running short of people willing to do such work: Of all
U.S. college grads, only 5.6 percent hold degrees in STEM
subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering,Mathematics),
compared with almost 47 percent in China. This month
in Houston, the Offshore Technology Conference hosts
the latest in a series of STEM workshops for high school
students, aiming to halt a slide that, as the numbers show,
could have profound national and social implications.
—
CHRIS WRIGHT
GEEK TRAGEDY
IS AMERICA FALLING BEHIND IN THE PRODUCTION OF BRAINIACS?
PERCENTAGE OF U.S.
STUDENTS WHO
PURSUED STEMDEGREES
BECAUSE “MY PARENTS
TOLDME I HAD TO”
6
RANK OF THE U.S.
AMONG DEVELOPED
NATIONS IN
PROPORTION OF
STEM BACHELOR’S
DEGREES
27
NUMBER OF
NATIONS RANKED
BELOWTHE U.S.
IN EIGHTH-GRADE
MATH SCORES
4
PROJECTED ECONOMIC
GAINS OVER 80 YEARS
IF THE U.S. MATCHED
CANADA’S MATH
PROFICIENCY LEVEL
$75TRILLION
ANNUAL STIPEND GRANTED
BY THE GRADUATE
RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS
STEM EDUCATION PROGRAM
$30,000
NUMBER OF
16
GB IPHONE 5s
THAT MONEY
COULD BUY
150
ANNUAL U.S. FEDERAL INVESTMENT
IN STEM EDUCATION PROGRAMS
≈
$3BILLION
AMOUNT AMERICANS SPENT
ON BEER IN 2011
$96BILLION
Looking up from
her sudoku
puzzle for the
first time in
a half hour,
Paula Tunnicliffe
fixes her gaze on a bearded man
and a lithe woman who are twirling
between battered barstools. The
couple has attracted an audience,
and as the man dips his partner,
some murmur, “Ooh.”
A modest pub on a cobbled street
in Bristol, The Old Duke seems more
Duke of York than Duke Ellington.
Every Monday, though, it hosts a
jazz night, which
always draws a crowd.
And it’s not only those who can
recall spinning 78s on their hi-fis—
you’re as likely to see dreadlocks
here as a blue rinse.
For Tunnicliffe, The Old Duke’s
jazz nights have little to do with
retro cool. Her husband of 44
years, Bob, is the trombone player
in Cass Caswell’s Allstars, who
have a monthly residency here.
Tunnicliffe attends every show,
as she has for years. The band is
onstage now, dressed in smart
white shirts, whipping up a swirl
of Dixieland gaiety.
From her table, sipping white
wine, Tunnicliffe watches the danc-
ing man tilt his partner back in time
to her husband’s music, and half
smiles. Maybe she’s remembering
the days when she and Bob could
captivate an audience like this. Or
maybe not. “I can’t dance at all,
actually,” she says, “but I always
wished I could.”
At the end of the set, Bob
approaches his wife. His move-
ments are uncertain, his expression
a bit lost. “He’s losing his memory,”
she says, passing him his coat.
“
He always remembers this place,
though, and the band’s music.
That’s why we keep coming back.”
—
HANNAH STUART-LEACH
BRISTOL, ENGLAND
BLUE NOTES
PAST AND PRESENT BRIEFLY REUNITE
ONA BRITISH PUB’S DANCE FLOOR
DISPATCHES
||
GLOBETROTTING
