Wasted Education

""[Wasted Education] asks important questions that encourage readers to think more deeply about what a meaningful education is (and is for) and the nature of meaningful work."" * Science * ""For Skrentny, the purpose of [Wasted Education] is not to deny the need for STEM skills but rather to ‘rebalance a debate’ that is dominated by what he calls the ‘STEM education industrial complex’—namely, large corporations that lobby for more STEM workers but make little effort to retain staff by stamping out the toxic work cultures that push so many staff to leave."" * Times Higher Education * ""Wasted Education provides the useful service of broadening how educators and administrators evaluate the 'success' of efforts to increase the number and diversity of STEM students and their transfer and adaptation to the workplace. . .Driving away STEM talent through workplace policies—low pay, dwindling job security, 'burn and churn' management practices, lack of mentorship, etc.—must be addressed to meet the systemic needs of the economy for a qualified workforce. . .Wasted Education spotlights this neglected issue and opens opportunities for discussion and improvement."" * Choice * ""[Wasted Education] considers why only a minority of graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) end up working in STEM jobs, highlighting the need for employers and investors to improve the treatment of STEM workers."" * Journal of Economic Literature * “With research rigor and bracing clarity, Wasted Education reveals America’s real STEM problem—and the real costs of a hustling, relentless corporate culture.” -- Margaret O’Mara | author of ""The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America"" “This important book highlights how the unprecedented effort to push students into STEM degrees is both misguided and wasted by the lack of opportunity when they hit the job market. The STEM effort to do economic planning with students should be the biggest issue in economic policy. ” -- Peter Cappelli | author of ""Our Least Important Asset: How the Relentless Focus on Finance and Accounting Hurts Workers and Business"" “Wasted Education is a welcome and crucially important perspective on American education and workforce policy. Skrentny’s argument—that employers must share responsibility with schools for nurturing and rewarding STEM talent throughout their lives—must become a mantra if we're to see anything more than minimal improvement in our national human-capital system.” -- Mitchell Stevens | Stanford University