Nine Shift

How to Make STEM Right for Girls - - Part 2

It's easy to make STEM right for girls. Just change the letters in STEM. 

We are now into year 2 of putting Arts into STEM, producing STEAM. 

Now a professor is proposing to take out the M (math) because "algebra is just too hard."  

We now propose taking out the S (science), and we would have it:  TEA.  

The STEM shortage is now solved, just remove M and S and insert A  and we get TEA.

No, more girls won't become engineers with TEA, but their teachers sure will be happier with all those great grades girls get in TEA. 

How to Make STEM Right For Girls

It's easy to make STEM right for girls.  Just change the letters in STEM.

Last week a new test on technology and engineering had girls scoring higher than boys.  
Does this mean girls will go into technology and engineering?  No.

What they included on the test were skills in "communication and collaboration" and then obviously, as the Washington Post story said, girls of course scored higher on communication, so therefore they are better at technology and engineering. Presto!  

Bunny and bunny baby in the backyard last week.

Gen Y More Different Now than Gen X or Boomers

My brilliant co-author Julie Coates told me last week that Gen Y is more different now as a generation from Gen X and Boomers, not less.

She says Gen Y is in a different culture very different from Xers and Boomer cultures. 

Example: I sent her the signature of a woman in accounting, with all her initials behind her name, including APMD.

Julie responded that to Gen Y, APMD means All Pigs Must Die.

Try googling APMD. The All Pigs meaning is at the top, and right with picture.  The professional's designation not even on the first page of the search results. 

Big Week for NineShifters Contributing to the Blog

Five NineShifters wrote last week and contributed links or comments to the blog. Thank you!  To:

George Martinez

Scott Rogers

Tim from San Antonio

David Lubic

someone else I forgot. Photo: George Martinez of Somerset Community College in Kentucky.

Dems Losing Gen Y

Before our very eyes, the Democratic Party is in the same, or worse, shape as the GOP in meeting the needs of Gen Y and the future.

Our commentary is not about politics or elections, it is simply about the transition from the last century (older people, Sec. Clinton, Tea Party, GOP) to the 21st century (Gen Y, Bernie Sanders, some GOP people and ideas here and there). 

This week we see the divisions in the Democratic Party, just like we saw/see them in the GOP, over Gen Y and their needs for the future.

Bernie as VP would give the Democrats a solid victory in November, but it looks unlikely Sec. Clinton would choose Sen. Sanders this week.
On the GOP side, the party has to decide to side with Gen Y. It it is too late for 2016 elections, but we predict the GOP will appeal to Gen Y by 2020.

Another sign of spring on campus: baby horses. What you city slickers call a foal, colt (male) or filly (female)

What's Wrong With Boys Going Into STEM?

What's wrong with this picture of a team of middle schoolers going to the finals in a national robotics contest?

The answer: absolutely nothing.  More boys go into technology and engineering than girls.  If you look at other teams making it to the finals of the national contest, they also are about 2:1 boys to girls.  Again, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this.  

Keeping boys out of college keeps them out of STEM jobs needed for our economy.  We need to graduate more boys and welcome more boys into STEM, not fewer.

#1 Top Train Story: Montreal to Build Light Rail System in Just 3 Years

Montreal has announced it will build a  23 station light rail system - - in just 3 years. 

Why this is so important and positive is that right now it takes years, sometimes more than a decade, to build a new light rail or train line.  Montreal may have set an ambitious goal.  But it points to the possibility of building new light rail and train lines on a much shorter timeline.

This has been a five part series on new train news this week, celebrating National Passenger Train Day tomorrow, May 14. Happy train day!

NineShift predicts the timeline for light rail and train construction in the U.S. in the next decade will greatly shorten.  Two things will make that possible:  1.Everyone will support the lines, so decision making will be quicker; and 2.Staff for government train operations will be greatly expanded, making manpower less of an issue and thus speeding up - - well, everything.

#2 Top Train Story: Subways 'Beyond Crowded'

Big new stories are out there now about both Washington DC's Metro System, and New York City's subways.

No, the stories are not good.  In DC, the whole system needs to be upgraded.  In NYC, the subways are "beyond crowded," with ridership the highest it has been since 1948.

The good news is that is a sign of progress and the continuing expansion of light rail and train lines. Being crowded: that's a good problem to have.  

#3 Top Train Story: Denver Airport Train Now Open!

The light rail movement continues to grow. The newest line: a light rail line from downtown Denver out to the big Denver International Airport. 

The cost?  $9   Take that, Uber. 

New light rail lines continue to be built all over North America. 

Train poster from 100 years ago. Train posters were one of the first uses of a new, and now popular, typefont Futura.

#4 Top Train Story: Trains Cutting into Truck Freight

Freight train companies are saying that freight currently taken by truck is their greatest growth area for the future.

This is good news, as trucks eat up highway pavement and taxpayer costs.  

Freight trains carry the same freight for one-third the cost, so you citizen-taxpayer-consumers out there have a triple win. 

Photo of UPS train car out my train window last month.