A poll from the nonprofit group ASQ (formerly the American Society for Quality) finds that while 90 percent of parents would encourage their children to pursue a career in a STEM field, 87 percent said they would be “concerned” if that career happened to be as a K-12 teacher.
In all, the survey found only 9 percent of the 644 parents participating would encourage their children to pursue a career as a science, technology, engineering, or math teacher.
In a separate poll, ASQ found only 29 percent of educators surveyed said they would encourage their own children to pursue that path as a STEM-related career option. That poll was conducted online among 185 ASQ members who self-identified as educators.
Both groups polled cited low compensation as a prime reason for their views.