this is actually my post but my posting doesn't work so i used zoua's tell me your thoughts on this and post a comment .

Scientific American just launched a large Science Jobs channel: http://sciam.realmatch.com/

Saw it on the news.

wanting a career in sports or fashion is what many kids want as it's a well-known way, for some anyway, to make a ton of money, but not even close to being the only way.

more glamorous? without a doubt! when was the last time that jonas salk or albert einstein or louis pasteur or any other famous scientists considered glamorous? even though they're more of a difference maker than entertainers are. it doesn't help at all that there's still a negative stigma attached to being intelligent, anyone recall the 'revenge of the nerds' movies? unfortunately, being intelligent isn't always considered cool. more recently, there was a satire called 'idiocracy', which was a futuristic look at society, but had the same message- being smart STILL wasn't cool.

i have a friend that majored in science and now works on cancer-treatment equipment in hospitals, making really good money.

if more knew about the good money that can be made in a science-related career, more would want to try it.

Personally, I love science and I would really like to pursue a career in science, but maybe this is just due to the fact that my parents have science careers. I don't see much negative stigma against intelligence, but there is something of a lack of interest in science, engineering, and math generally, unlike countries such as China. These fields are vitally important to the economy, and the United States is currently using immigration to supply a substantial section of its engineer needs. While these facts probably aren't going to convince any teens, if teachers showed the sheer awesomeness of science and math more, students will probably get much more interested in science careers.

i see backlash against intelligence all the time, meaning there is still a negative stigma attached to it.
best example? where we live! i have some friends that live outside minnesota and they hear 'twin cities' and automatically ask 'minneapolis?' and i have to remind them that there's a reason why it's called the 'twin' cities
- how we also have st. paul. this would be considered 'dumbing down' as many only think of the larger city, for whatever reason, but often due to the news media only showing minneapolis on something like a weather map.
i've seen a few ads- one of them road-sign billboards- put up in st. paul that had to be changed as they said 'minneapolis'- and insult to those who live in the 'forgotten' twin city. which shouldn't be forgotten at all when it's the capital city.
then i've met those who accuse me of being a know-it-all just because they don't know the same fact, even though it was a common fact like minnesota's nhl team back in 1992 was the north stars, NOT the wild.
and terms like 'geek' and 'nerd' are still considered derogatory, as they're directed at the intelligent.
it's called 'tyranny of the majority' as the intelligent are still a minority.

gene, i used to live in illinois, and i always said i lived in 'suburban chicago' because that was accurate. and i met people while at university who happened to live in the city of chicago, NOT a suburb, and they said very specifically up-front they live in 'city of'. because they were annoyed with suburbanites calling themselves 'chicagoans' when they weren't. so if we want to talk semantics and oversimplification and dumbing down, this would be an example of 'personal preference' on how people identify themselves, in terms of where they live. unfortunately, people usually can't agree on what is correct, so usually anything goes.
and, alas, not everything is black and white, but sometimes a subtle shade of gray. i know this from studying the french language and see how they translate subtitled movies, more often than not it is the 'loose' translation, which is close enough, as opposed to the 'literal' translation, which you seem to prefer, and why you feel the need to carry on these arguments and trying to correct me, thinking your answer is the only one, when there's usually more than one.
i would expect it to be no different when tranlsating form other languages besides french, where there is more than one correct answer.
it proves what this article is all about, why many kids aren't interested in science, because it isn't easy like other professions are. it's just easier to let the news media decide for us what is important enough to care about, even 'the simpsons' lampooned this in at least one episode. when a volcano erupted, a news reporter had to fill in for another who was off covering a celebrity gossip story. and let's face it, celebrity gossip isn't 'real news', even if it's demand and may get ratings. again, celebrity worship- being an entertainer- is considered to be more glamorous than being in science.

28% sounds like a high number to me although "science" can cover a lot of areas. By way of comparison, what per cent of careers in the US involve science? Higher or lower than 28%?

The per cent would be on the US Census page. Can't get there from this computer.