Let's Fill the Deficit by Zynierah

Let's Fill the Deficit by Zynierah - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

From an early age, as long as I can remember, I've always had a difficult time in my mathematics and science courses. I excelled at every other course, but when it came to those two subjects, I became nervous and struggled to do an average job. In the United States Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has the highest earning median earnings, yet less than twenty percent of students choose a stem path and thirty-eight percent of students who start with a STEM major do not graduate with a degree in that field. So, if the roles were reversed, the academic subject I would teach is mathematics.
As a student who majors in Business, a Statistics and Probability course is a prerequisite for the completion of my degree. Before my course even began, I sought out other students who’ve previously taken the course so I could know what to expect. Many of the students I spoke to told me that the course was a challenge for them, more challenging any other math course they’ve ever taken. I was petrified. I doubted my capabilities before the class could even start.
Once I was a few weeks into my class, I realized that statistics wasn’t hard—it demanded my focus. It made me take time to actually learn and retain the materials that I learn. When I learned the material, I was excited to share the new things that I learned. I gathered classmates and hosted meetups to tutor my peers. I enjoyed watching the light and excitement in people’s eyes when they finally understood how to graph a linear regression line.
Subjects in STEM are perceived to be difficult because it challenges and forces us to dissect something that’s believed to be too complex or sophisticated. About one-third of teachers in the United States do not have a certificate to teach a subject in STEM, yet, they are assigned to do so because there is a growing deficit of instructors and students who are interested in those fields. There’s a large demand for people who can actually teach these subjects and to open students up to a new world that seems foreign. Understanding mathematics is necessary because just about everything requires knowing numbers. From shopping to the grocery store looking for sales, or balancing accounts for a multi-billion-dollar company— numbers are involved.
If I could teach, I’d definitely go into the STEM field. I enjoy sharing information and teaching people new things. Helping someone achieve a goal that they once thought impossible is one of the greatest feelings and that’s why people become educators, and STEM educators get to experience that feeling while possibly helping their students become the future scientists, engineers, physicists, and future elites of the academic world. When you can influence that, and make students enjoy all subjects, you’ve reached you goal.