how many of you loved math as a kid? no? okay. now, how many of youwere maybe in the other bucket, and you probably didn't like math as much, and you maybe felt like,"hey, maybe i'm not a 'math person.'" unfortunately, we have a culturethat makes it acceptable to opt out of developing math skills, but when it comes to literacy, it's not okay to say,"hey, reading just wasn't my thing."
(laughter) this is a major problem, because 80% of the fastest growing jobsrequire math or science skills. and of the five million unfilled jobsin this country today, more than half a millionare in information technology, or it, which is more than any other occupation. we have a mismatch between the supplyand this growing demand for people with skills in science,technology, engineering, and math. in fact, a 2012 report
by president obama'sscience and technology advisory council said that we need to produce one million additional stemcollege graduates by the year 2022. that's one million on topof the projected three million. so, why does stem havethis worker shortage? i just gave it away. it's actually because stemhas a major diversity issue. women make uproughly half of this country, but are only 29% of stem workers.
when it comes to race and ethnicity, african-americans and hispanics comprised around 26%of the us population in 2013, but were only about, or barely 11%of the science and engineering workforce. this diversity challenge is not justa matter of us needing more workers, we're actually missing out on ideas. research indicates that teamsthat have diverse perspectives are more creative and more innovative, especially when it comesto solving complex problems.
so, stem's diversity challengeis a complex one, and there are a number of factorsthat contribute to this. i want to share a few of them with you in the context of my own experienceas a woman in stem. here i am... (laughter) i knew you guyswere going to laugh, it's okay! i was female steve urkel, i get it. so, this is me in the fourth grade. i, already at this age,had a real love for science.
i was really curious aboutthe world that surrounded me, the physiology of the human body,how did the eyes work? i also really loved math. in fact, when i was in high school, my geometry teacher would actuallylet me teach class for her if she was going to be gone for the day. she trusted me more than a substitute! and i loved it,i took great delight in that. so, i was very fortunatebecause i had a wonderful support system
in the form of great teachers, and i had two wonderful parentswho always instilled in me the belief that if i was willing to work hard,i could do anything that i put my mind to. so, this gave me a great senseof confidence as a child, and this carried me on to pursue a bachelor's and a master's degreein chemistry at clark atlanta university. and i had a wonderful experienceat clark atlanta. and my academic sucess continued. so, this prompted me to be ambitiousas i applied for graduate school.
i applied for a phd programin biological and biomedical sciences at harvard medical school, and to my pleasant surprise, i got in. but this is where things changed for me. the transition to harvard was hard, not just because i was going fromrigorous chemistry to hardocre biology, but i was also transitioningto this culture shock of leaving a historicallyblack college in atlanta, to go to an ivy leagueinstitution in new england.
for the first time,it was hard for me to look around and see people that looked like me,as teachers or students. and so, i started to strugglewith my classes, they were hard. and it wasn't longbefore i started to feel like, "hey, maybe i'm not that smart after all.maybe harvard made a mistake. and what if somebody finds outthat i don't deserve to be here?" so, there's a term for this,and it's called "the impostor syndrome." this impostor syndrome wreaked havocon that confidence that i once had, as a child and as a young woman.
i became a different person. i even changed the way i dressed. i said, "surely, i shouldn'tlook like a girly girl" -- if i was into fashion or make-up -- "because who wouldtake me seriously as a scientist?" and so, i began to retreatinto this self-imposed shell, i would go to classand i was so afraid to speak up, many times, i was the onlyafrican-american in my courses -- which included small group discussion --
and i was paralyzed with this fearof saying something wrong. what if i sounded silly? and what if that might confirm what i thought everyone elsearound me already suspected, that as a woman, and as a person of color, i wasn't supposed to be goodat science anyway? this is known as "stereotype threat." so, this combination of stereotype threat and its close cousin,the impostor syndrome
catapulted me into a deep depression. deep depression, it was so hardto go through this motion everyday of pretending that i was okayand that i felt confident. and so, ultimately, i decidedthat i couldn't continue this way, i just could not go on. so, after one semester, i left. i left harvard. and i went to hollywood. now, this is not as much of a stretchas you might think,
i had always beeninto the performing arts as a child, and so i decided, if i was goingto take a break from graduate school, i was going to go as far awayfrom science as i could get. and so, trying to becomean actor is hard, too. and not the most lucrativecareer move either. so, i quickly discoveredthat i was not willing to starve to become an actor. and so, i took a positionto help make ends meet as a teacher in the los angelesunified school district,
primarily getting positionsat this one middle school, right in the heart of south central l.a. so, this was another turning point for me. it was this experience, working with these childrenwho were considered "underserved" that made me realize something: those feelings that i feltin graduate school, where i didn't feel smart anymore,or that i was so insecure; there are kids dealing with thatin the seventh grade.
i didn't experience it until grad school. so, if those feelings could beso significant for me, as an adult, with a track record of success, that these feelings could prompt meto leave a place like harvard, how damaging could they beto a seventh-grader? this issue of stereotype threat can literally impactthe students ability to achieve. if you tell a group of girls,before they take a math test, that boys are better at math,those girls will perform worse
than if you had not identifiedthis negative stereotype at all. and the same is truefor african-americans and hispanics. students who express interestin stem in middle school, are three times as likelyto graduate with a degree in stem. middle school, unfortunately,is also the age where girls and minorities become more susceptibleto losing interest in stem. so, i decided that, after being gonefrom harvard for more than a year, that i wanted to go back,and i was going to finish that degree. and not just becausei wanted to be a role model for kids,
but i wanted to also proveto myself that i could do it, and more importantly, i was hopingthat somebody, someday, might see someone who looks like meand be inspired to think, "hey! maybe i can do it, too." so, when i got back to harvard,it was even harder the second time! that impostor syndrome was waiting for meright at the front door. but my perspectivewas a little different this time, and i had an added incentive,an additional motivation. i was determined to not quit,so i kept going.
and it was not untili was about to graduate, that i got a very simplebut practical piece of advice that finally gave me a tool to helpaddress and combat this impostor syndrome. a post-doc in my lifesaid to me, "knatokie, you have to get out of this habitof comparing yourself to other people. the only person that you shouldcompare yourself to is you. if you can look at where you are today, versus where you weresix months or a year ago, and if you can see progress,that's all that matters,
that's what success is." and that was a real game changer for me. so, my story is one of a personwho left stem, and came back. but far too often, that is not the case. students who begin collegeinterested in majoring in stem, of those, less than 40%actually graduate with a stem degree. so, how are we going to getthis one million, this additional one million that we need? women and minorities make uparound 70% of college students,
but only about 45%of stem college graduates. we have to do a better job of drawing from this largely untapped talent poolof stem potential workers, especially in a context of a societythat's becoming increasingly diverse. i'm very fortunate in that, the work that i'm doing nowat the white house is about bringingall these pieces together, about a love of science,about this power of entertainment media, and about this passionto make a difference.
and that's exactly what we're doing; we're working withthe entertainement comunity to change the way that stemis portrayed in media. entertainment media is so powerful,it can really cultivate and shape the way that the public perceives what is a stem job,and who should be doing stem jobs. but, unfortunately, when it comes to portrayalsof stem professionals in media, men outpace women, five to one;
for computer scientists and engineers,it's worse, fourteen to one! so, entertainement media can playthis dichotomist role, it can either normalise inequality and reinforce these biaisesand stereotypes that consistently discouragegirls and minorities, or it can help us paint the pictureof this inclusive workforce that we so desperately wantand need to achieve. we put out a call to action, and there are a number of amazing partnerswho have really stepped up to the plate
in a major way. the cartoon network launcheda 30 million dollar iniative that's focused on stem role models, they're doing thingswith their characters, female characters that code now, and they are also incorporatinghands-on activities for kids that are at this intersectionof creativity and technology. the alliance for family entertainmentlaunched a new initiative called "see her," #seeher,
which is specifically focusedon the ways women and girls are portrayed in bothadverstising and media. how do the advertisersleverage their power to help change this? the role model piece is so important. role models inspire youth and adults to envision themselvesas future stem professionals. role models also help inspire confidencein studying stem subjects. as the big boss said here, it really is hardto be what you cannot see.
so, we have made some progress -- go ahead, get it out!go ahead and laugh again, it's fine. so, we have made progress,but we still have a ways to go. and this is literallythis diversity challenge that stem has had for decades,this is an 'all hands on deck' issue. the good news is thateach and every one of us here has the ability to make a difference. how many of you are parents? quite a few of you.
if you're a parent --you remember what i said earlier? my parents were so critical in this confidencethat i developed as a child. so, if you are a parent, a teacher,an aunt, an uncle, a mentor, if you have young peoplethat are in your life, you have the abilityto help inspire confidence in them; to help them believe that if they are willing to work hard,they can do anything, the sky is really the limit!
we all also haveto help our kids understand that if somethingis hard at first, or difficult, it does not mean that they don't belong. and we also have to help our kids recognize that their uniquenessis actually an asset, it's a good thing; and the diversity of this countryis one of our greatest strengths, thank you. (applause)
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