Green Politics: STEM Education

Clinton has vocalized her support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs for K-12 schools and considers exposing young children to computer science and coding to be the most important part of raising a new generation of tech-savvy adults. An extension of President Obama’s “Computer Science for All” initiative, the Clinton campaign pledges to “provide every public school student with access to education in computer science.”

The Democratic presidential candidate has also expressed her interest in promoting educational partnerships between institutions of higher learning and K-12 schools. She also plans to establish schools centering on a STEM education which provide students with “maker spaces,” places to engage in hands-on activities.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump states that there are “a host of STEM programs already in existence” and plans to reduce funding for the Department of Education. Trump has stated that the Common Core Standards Initiative, an educational program designed to set standards for K-12 reading and math, is a “total disaster.”

“Our top-down-one-size-fits-all approach to education is failing and is actually damaging educational outcomes for our children,” the Trump campaign wrote in response to a questionnaire posted by ScienceDebate. “The management of our public education institutions should be done at the state and local level, not at the Department of Education.”