Questioning a white male advantage in STEM: Examining disparities in college major by gender and race/ethnicity

Riegle-Crumb, Catherine, & King, Barbara. (2010). Questioning a white male advantage in STEM: Examining disparities in college major by gender and race/ethnicity. Educational Researcher, 39(9), 656-664.

First of all, I learned yet another acronym today: STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. These are considered the “top” occupational fields in society today, and even though steps toward equity have been taken, those fields are still dominated by white males. From what I read here, though, gender inequity is a more serious and pervasive problem than racial inequity. White females in particular are the least likely to declare a major in the STEM areas. When these areas were separated into the biological sciences versus the physical sciences and engineering, there was clearly more equity in the biological sciences.

Interestingly, black females were more likely to major in STEM areas than were white females, and indeed, they were more likely to major in STEM areas than were black males!

These figures, of course, only apply to students who actually get to college, and black males are much less likely to get there. If they get there, though, it appears that they may even be a bit more likely than white males to major in STEM fields. This makes sense, because logically black students who succeed in spite of a still-discriminatory society and some of the challenges that presents probably represent a selected group of students. We don’t know what the wider range of black students, who do not ever get to college, would do if they actually could partake in higher education.

We don’t really know why the discrepancies exist in STEM fields. The authors here cite disparities in secondary school preparation as well as attitudes toward math, both of which can work to disadvantage girls and minority youth. One of the saddest findings shared here is that even when their achievement matches that of boys, girls perceive themselves as less competent in science and math. Where does that come from? Obviously, strong, deeply rooted socialization processes are still at work. The point is, we will need as many good people in the STEM occupations as we can produce if the U.S. is to recover economically and be a leader in this century. If huge groups like women and minorities are not entering these professions, the authors fear, we may face a threatening shortage with heretofore unimagined consequences.

I wonder also if young people in general will be less motivated to go into STEM fields in the future. The young teacher candidates I work with right now are distressingly ill-prepared in ALL academic areas, and less willing to work hard in school than they need to be to succeed in demanding academic fields like STEM majors. Students will be attracted to the prestige and monetary gain potential of STEM fields, but will they be willing to take the heavy coursework in math and the physical sciences that these majors require? If future teachers like my students shy away from these areas, who will teach our future STEM professionals?