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Results of a Public Agenda survey released June 2 indicate that 84% of the American public agrees that more jobs in the future will require math and science skills, and 9 in 10 say studying advanced math and science is useful even for students who don’t pursue a STEM career.

The survey, which was supported by GE Foundation, asked the views of 1,400 people nationwide, 646 of them parents of K-12 students. More than half (52%) of the parents said the math and science their children are getting in school are "fine as it is."

But higher percentages of parents said they would like to see their local schools spend more on up-to-date and well-equipped science labs (70%), more equipment for hands-on learning (69%) and more equipment to help students learn computer and technology skills (68%).

Sixty-one percent of parents also agreed that "putting math and science ideas in television, video games and other media directed towards children" would "improve math and science education a lot." And, asked to choose between two explanations for why students do poorly in math and science, 61% of parents said it's because students think the subjects are "irrelevant to their lives," while only 31% blamed a lack of good teachers.

Details are here.