STEM Solutions Conference: part 1.

for work, i recently went to the STEM Solutions conference that is sponsored by US News & World Report. i attended because it's a new conference (this was only the 2nd year), and in my position in teacher professional development in mathematics, it seemed like a conference that was worth attending. 

the conference was almost 3 weeks ago, and since then, i've been struggling to find the way to describe my uneasiness with it. as a first step towards organizing my thinking and sharing my perspective, i thought i'd bullet point out the way in which this conference was decidedly unlike others i attend*.

• there was little to no networking. now, to be fair, networking is always an awkward business when you're at a new conference. but i think that there were certain tactical mistakes made--like the fact that the networking reception was held in the exhibit hall, not a ballroom. this meant that instead of us all having to focus our attention on the other awkward people in the room by rubbing elbows and introducing ourselves, we were able to focus on each booth (more on this later), and never actually chat up the people near us. lunch was also served in the exhibit space, and while there were tables this time, there weren't enough. 
   
• the breakout sessions (meaning non-large group, or non-plenary session) were structured for lecture and/or Q&A. the set up of rooms did not facilitate discussion or collegiality. every one of these smaller sessions that i went to were structured as a panel of lectures (up on a literal stage with a microphone) with a little time at the end for Q&A. the rooms were set up for this, with the audience seated in chairs in rows and columns, no tables, no participant interaction. discussion was always from the podium to the audience, or a single participant to the podium. because the rooms were unnecessarily large, no one needed to sit near anyone, and no one did.
   
• the tenor of the whole conference was very … closed off (?). i'm not exactly sure how to describe this, but it was certainly a product of the structure i've outlined above. i can only offer a counter example—that at other conferences i regularly attend* for math ed, participants are friendly, welcoming, there is a tenor of camaraderie and collegiality. The idea is that “we’re all in it together.” people introduce themselves, and ask "where are you from?" i only had one person ask me where i was from, and she ended up being a director of the air and space museum in DC--it was also her first time, and she was also having difficulty breaking into the social culture. we both found it very strange.
• there was a TREMENDOUS amount of press (in fact, i would hazard a guess that photographers, journalists, and PR personnel who were there to report on the actual conference made up a good 15-20% of the attendees). and the structure of the conference made it feel like the main purpose was to be a platform for a national “look at what our corporation is doing! aren't we good/special/noble?!” from scheduled time for “announcements” (always about what "good" these corporations were doing in education) to press releases to self-promoting video clips during plenary sessions, the whole thing was set up to make those from the private sector investing in education feel good about themselves. it was incredibly masturbatory.
   
• the masturbatory nature of the conference was most seen through the twitter hashtag for the conference: #STEMSolutions13. it was full of parroting of speakers, groupthink, and twitter masturbation. there was zero problematizing of ideas put out there. there was no challenging discussions or what was said from the podium.
   
•  it was clear that a jack ford (the main MC for the conference) was not from the education community, nor does he know how to speak to the education community. in a speech where (this is me giving him the benefit of the doubt) his main goal was to challenge the audience to address the needs of STEM education, he said, "we know what doesn't work in STEM education: american kids don't work. .... women don't work." (there was a third thing or type of person who "doesn't work" but i was so speechless after the first two, i completely forgot it). i believe in these two instances, he was trying to say that we need to improve student outcomes and female recruitment ... but holy shit, dude. your framing is PROBLEMATIC. i could go on and on about how in education, we are careful with our words because we understand how important they are--that words matter. that framing matters. other things that i heard that would never be uttered from a podium at an education conference hosted by educators: "we need to educate the right kids." really? really?!

to tell you the truth, this conference was only 2 days long, and i skipped the last half day because i was so demoralized. as a true blue believer in public education as a public good, a public service ... i felt like i was alone in the world of ed, without funding. without hope. so i hopped on an earlier flight and got the heck out of there.


* conference i have attended and/or attend on a regular basis include: Math Science Partnership regional conferences, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual conference, National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics annual conference, the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences conference, and the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New England annual conference.