Making Science Make Sense

Bayer Facts of Science Education Survey

Parents' Views About Their Sons' and Daughters' Capacity in Science, Math and Engineering

• Almost all parents are confident that their sons and daughters have the ability to succeed in science and math in school (96 percent and 95 percent, respectively), with nearly three-quarters (75 percent and 73 percent, respectively) feeling "very confident."
  
  *The largest difference among parents' feelings about their sons and daughters occurs in the Hispanic community where 82 percent indicate they are "very confident" their sons have the ability to succeed in science and math in school, compared to 69 percent of their daughters.
  
  *African-Americans have the highest confidence level of all parents with 85 percent indicating they are "very confident" their sons can succeed in science and math, and 76 percent believe their daughters can as well.
  
  
• More than four-fifths of the parents say their sons (88 percent) and daughters (85 percent) are interested in science, mathematics or engineering. More than half (52 percent) say their sons are "very interested," while a smaller one-quarter (28 percent) say their daughters are "very interested."
  
  *African-American parents (40 percent) report the highest" very interested" rating for their daughters.
  
  
• Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of all parents say their sons have expressed an interest in continuing to study or have a career in science, math or engineering, compared to less than one-half (42%) who indicate their daughters have expressed a similar interest.
  
  *Although the majority of all minority parents indicate their sons have expressed an interest in continuing to study or have a career in science, math, or engineering, African-Americans' (50 percent) sons' interest is lower than Hispanics' (69 percent) or Native Americans' (62 percent) sons' interest.
  
  
• Almost all parents are confident that their sons and daughters have the ability to succeed in science and engineering careers (92 percent and 90 percent, respectively), with more than half saying they feel "very confident" about their ability (69 percent and 57 percent, respectively).
  
  *Similarly, 57 percent of Native American parents are "very confident" about their sons' ability to succeed, with 45 percent "very confident" about their daughters.
  
  
• Not only do parents feel confident in their children's abilities to succeed in S&E careers, almost all view S&E careers as "desirable" for their children (91 percent sons and 86 percent daughters), with 65 percent saying they are "very desirable" for their sons and 41 percent saying so for their daughters.
  
  *Nine in 10 Hispanic parents (91 percent) say an S&E career is "desirable" for their daughters, compared with three-quarters (78 percent) for their sons.
  
  *Native American parents are slightly less likely to say these careers are "very desirable" for their sons and daughters (51 percent and 31 percent, respectively).

Unless otherwise indicated, these findings refer to the national sample of 1,000 parents. In general, the responses of the under-represented minority parents were similar. Notable differences are indicated in italics where applicable.


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