Paradigm Shift Paper Introduction- The Evolution of STEM in the American Education System

Many in America have grown to have a love-hate relationship with the lovely public education system in which the majority of our future leaders learn and grow. This relationship is the result of the faults that the system as a whole, continues to show. Our United States education system has only done what it was designed to do, over one hundred years ago when our country had different needs, in a different world economy, to satisfy a different life style using the then available technology. The American plan was to have well-rounded students to enter industry. Our students reached the potential of that system decades ago, yet the tradition style of primary and secondary education continued. The early 2000s brought a sea of concerns as televisions flashed images of Asian and Indian students, outperforming American students tremendously. President George W. Bush responded to the concerned call from numerous national education organizations in his 2006 State of the Union Address with a plan. Following the implementation of his initiatives, the United States saw a shift in education towards a focus on STEM, which can be attributed to the fear and worry of leaders, in order to be competitive with the world at large.