Remember when the North Carolina General Assembly eliminated the Teaching Fellows Program a few years back?

They then “recreated” it to develop more STEM-related subject teachers in our schools because of the emphasis on STEM curriculum. From EdNC.org:

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction even has a program to promote STEM education.

Even the Burroughs Wellcome Fund which finances the Tacher of the Year program in the state talks about the need to promote STEM education.

“In a rapidly changing world, the need for effective, high-quality STEM education has never been greater.

As we rush to keep up with a changing energy and employment landscape, and the growing influence of robotics and A.I.,a practical knowledge of STEM concepts will become critical for everyone in the developed world. Systems analysts, software developers, biomedical scientists and engineers—these are the roles of the tech-driven future.

Over the next decade, an estimated 80% of jobs will require STEM skills of some kind. In North Carolina alone, there are currently over 400,000 STEM-related jobs, and an estimated 70,000 more will appear by 2020. At both the state and national level, STEM education is the underpinning of our health, our economy, and our democracy. From vaccines and obesity, to energy production and environmental policy, issues related to STEM pervade our country, and our world.Governments, industries, and heroic educators are working hard to meet the challenge. Top-down and bottom-up initiatives have done much to help students across North Carolina, and countrywide. But there is still much work to be done. Unfortunately, more than 20% of U.S. high schools fail to offer the full range of science and math courses. In North Carolina, as elsewhere, geography, race and socioeconomic status still determine access to STEM learning, to an unacceptable extent.“

Yet, the majority party in the North Carolina General Assembly seems to not acknowlege the actual science that talks about the COVID-19 outbreak and its rapid spread.

Some of the very same people who have championed funding and programs in the NCGA that promote STEM curriculum and the teaching of science, math, and technology are adverse to actually listening to what findings in those fields actually say.

In fact, it would be very hard to see someone like a Phil Berger, or a Tim Moore, or a Dan Forest putting this information on one of their social media accounts.

They are too busy trying to win elections than saving people.