Inthenextfiveyears，STEM（science，technology，engineeringandmathematics）jobsareprojectedtogrowtwiceasquicklyasjobsinallotherfieldsaccordingtotheU．S．BureauofStatistics．Whilealljobsareexpectedtogrowby10.4

　　Inthenextfiveyears，STEM （science，technology，engineeringandmathematics） jobsareprojectedtogrowtwiceasquicklyasjobsinallotherfieldsaccordingtotheU．S．BureauofStatistics．Whilealljobsareexpectedtogrowby10.4percent，STEMjobsareexpectedtoincreaseby21.4percent．

　　Bythismeasure，futureSTEMjobsrepresentahugeopportunitytotoday'sstudents．But，infact，ofthe3.8millionninthgradersintheU．S．，only233，000endupchoosingaSTEMdegreeincollege，accordingtotheNationalCenterforEducationStatistics．Thismeansonly6percentofninthgraderswillbecomeSTEMgraduates．Andofthesegraduates，womenwillbeevenmoreunderrepresentedinmostSTEMfields．

　　Thesearealarmingstatistics．HowdowegetmoreyoungboysandgirlstobeinterestedinSTEM-relatedfields？Itisn'taneasytask．Schoolsdonotalwaysadequatelypreparestudentsfortheseseveresubjects，andcollegeprogramsaredesignedtogetridofthosewhoarelesspersistent．Nationally，only41percentofinitialSTEMmajorswhobeginadegreeinSTEM-relatedfieldscompletetheirdegreeinlessthansixyears．

　　Inaddition，socialpressurescontinuetocastashadowovergirlswhomightotherwiseconsidertheSTEMfields．Acoupleofyearsago，Imetamazingparents，bothofwhomhadabackgroundinengineeringandhopedtheir10-year-olddaughterwouldfollowintheirfootsteps．Theyencouragedhertotakeanafter-schoolscience/roboticsprogram．Whenshegotthere，shefoundshewasoutnumbered6：1byboysintheclass．Astheonlygirl，shecamehomecryingmuchofthetimebecauseshewasteasedandtoldthatgeekygirlsarenotwelcomeintheboys'club．Ironically，bythetimeyoungboysareenteringcollegeprogramsinSTEMfields，manycomplainaboutthelackofgirls．

　　Startingatanearlyage，evenasyoungaskindergarten，weneedtoencourageandhelpthenextgenerationleaderstoconsidertakingupscience，computing，mathandtechnology．Wealsoneedtorealizethatforyounggirlstobeinspiredtotakeandstickwiththiseducationalpathandlatercareerfield，theywillbenefitfromthesupportofthepeoplethatsurroundthem：parents，teachers，friendsandfamilymembers．

　　56．TheSTEMstatisticsareusedinthepassagemainlytoshowthat___．

　　A．STE