tries. It found that US students scored in the middle or in the bottom half of the group in three important ways: our students placed 16th in reading, 19th in science literacy, and 24th in mathematics.³³ In 1996 (the most recent data available), US 12th graders performed below the international average of 21 countries on a test of general knowledge in mathematics and science.³⁴

After secondary school, fewer US students pursue science and engineering degrees than is the case of students in other countries. About 6% of our undergraduates major in engineering; that percentage is the second lowest among developed countries. Engineering students make up about 12% of undergraduates in most of Europe, 20% in Singapore, and more than 40% in China. Students throughout much of the world see careers in science and engineering as the path to a better future.

Our culture has always considered higher education a public good—or at least we have seemed to do so. We have agreed as a society that educated citizens benefit the whole society; that the benefit accrues to us all and not just to those who receive the education. That was a primary reason for the creation in the 1860s of the land-grant college system; it is why early in the 20th century universal primary and secondary schooling was supported; it is why a system of superior state universities was created and generously supported and scholarships were given to needy students; and it is why the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944—the GI Bill—was established and why the National Defense Education Act was passed in 1958 shortly after the launch of Sputnik.

Now, however, funding for state universities is dwindling, tuition is rising, and students are borrowing more than they receive in grants. These seem to be indications that our society increasingly sees higher education as a private good, of value only to the individual receiving it. A disturbing aspect of that change is its consequences for low-income students. College has been a traditional path for upward mobility—and this has been particularly true in the field of engineering for students who were first in their family to attend college. The acceptance of higher education as a personal benefit rather than a public good, the growth of costly private K–12 schooling, and the shift of the cost burden to individuals have made it increasingly difficult for low-income students to advance beyond high school. In the