Teenagers Are Choosing to Study STEM Subjects. It's a Sign of the Times
upstart writes:
Teenagers are choosing to study STEM subjects:
A-level results in 2025 show the increasing popularity of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) among students. For students taking three A-levels-the majority-the most popular combination of subjects was biology, chemistry and math.
The subject with the greatest rise in entries from 2024 is further math, followed by economics, math, physics and chemistry. Math remains the most popular subject, with entries making up 12.7% of all A-level entries.
Conversely, subjects such as French, drama, history and English literature are falling in exam entry numbers.
There is considerable incentive for young people who may be looking beyond school and university to the job market to study STEM. Research has found that STEM undergraduate degrees bring higher financial benefits to people and to the public purse than non-STEM subjects.
Many of the world's fastest-growing jobs need STEM skills. These include data analysts, AI specialists, renewable energy engineers, app developers, cybersecurity experts and financial technology experts.
[...] What's more, math, engineering and the sciences are now vital parts of careers that might have once seemed unrelated. It was once the case that the division between arts and science was seen as unbridgeable: you were firmly on one side or the other. Today this is far less evident.
Artists, in their many manifestations, are almost by default material scientists. Architects, photographers, musicians, video-makers, sound and lighting technicians are (arguably) technical engineers. Landscape gardeners are environmentalists, chefs are food scientists.
[...] One important factor here is imbuing students with a positive STEM identity. When young people think they are good at STEM subjects and are able to be successful, they are much more likely to choose a STEM career.
The upshot here is that, as the world changes, and changes quickly, so does the realization that STEM is an essential and invaluable dimension of life and that career prospects are varied and available at many, many levels. It seems little wonder that students have to come to see this and are enrolling in study and employment in greater numbers than before.
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