How Do Our Young Adults Shape Up in a Technological World?

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has developed a framework to assess how well adults and young adults perform Problem Solving in a Technologically Rich Environment (PSTRE). One part of the OECD is the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). From the Internet to artificial intelligence and neural networks, we are surrounded by technology.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) jobs are the highest-paying jobs available and can provide an avenue for entering the upper middle class. This high remediation of wages is especially attractive because the middle-class purchasing power has not increased in 40 years. Figure 1 shows purchasing power for the past 40 years.

Figure 1

The problem with talking about STEM or, for that matter, any type of technological capability is how to quantify it. How do you define it on an international basis of how students and the general public perform? A simple example is one person being able to code and print out “HELLO WORLD,” while another individual can code a program with a multidimensional array and sort the variables by their standard deviations. Both individuals can code; however, they have massive differences in their capabilities. So, how does one measure somebody’s capabilities in the increasingly complex STEM-based technological world? 

The PIAAC has developed a solution to this problem, an assessment referred to as PSTRE, illustrated in Figure 2. 

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows the scores for the PIAAC test for PSTRE for adults aged 16 to 65. While Japan had the highest score of 294, the United States scored 277. This score is basic level 1( definition from figure 2). It’s hard to believe that a handful of American boys created Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Google. How can the majority of US citizens be so far behind? Remember, Japan and Finland are at the top of the list. 

Figure 3, levels from figure 2 reference number 6

Figure 4 shows that US students score at the bottom of international test results for 17-year-olds taking courses in algebra. As with the scores for PSTRE, Japan and Finland have among the highest scores related to algebra. There is a correlation between how well students do in algebra and how well they do in PSTRE and, by extension, their ability to have high-paying jobs in the future. You should not infer from the chart that people going to college are the most technologically sophisticated. A number of the founders of the previously mentioned PSTRE companies were college dropouts. A myth about technological sophistication in this digital age is that if you teach young kids coding, they will work in PSTRE; however, various publications have shown that this is incorrect. Coding does not teach problem-solving.

Figure 4

Figure 5 shows digital skill levels among employed youth ages 16–24 by race. Only 3% of white youth aged 16 to 24 scored at the advanced applied digital skills level (3 definitions from figure 2). At level 2, the percentage is 46%. This level is most likely the skill level needed in today’s factories and offices because of written procedures on how the work needed to be done( at level 2 definition “Can use tools to solve a problem where the criteria to be met are explicit). 

Figure 5, from the URBAN INSTITUTE, based on PIAAC

The online magazine Quillette published an article titled “As US schools prioritize diversity over Merit, China is becoming the world STEM leader.” This article references a chart from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is also part of the OECD. The PISA measures 15-year-old students’ achievement in math, reading, and science. Notice that China’s four cities have the highest scores(from the report only 4 cities were tested). The chart is reproduced in Figure 6.

Figure 6

Conclusion:

It’s hard to be optimistic. Only 3% of white young adults in America can work at the highest level of technically complex jobs. For African Americans, it’s 0%. US citizens aged 16 to 65 score at a low basic level of 1 in PSTRE.

 According to the PISA, China’s 15-year-olds lead the world in math, science, and reading. In the United States today, we can’t even agree on whether high-stakes testing is important or just another mechanism to discriminate against marginalized groups. High-stakes testing did not originate in Europe. It originated in China about the year 200 BC High-stakes testing is still the norm in China. 

One inference from figure 1 and figure 5 is that the living standard will be very challenging for the  US middle class.

 This article is dedicated to my father, Tom Renda. He just passed at 97, and was in the fourth division which lead to the invasion of Normandy. Please note the Purple Heart and the D-Day Operation Overlord medal.