Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth? (2007) / Chapter Skim
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THE COMPETITIVENESS EQUATION -- THE SUPPLY OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS
THE COMPETITIVENESS EQUATION -- THE SUPPLY OF SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS
Pages 41-53
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From page 41... ...
Rather, the point is that scientists and engineers contribute disproportionately to the creation of jobs for the other 96% of the nation's workforce by generating knowledge, by innovating, and by establishing new companies based on that knowledge and innovation. It should also be noted that the Gathering Storm committee's intense focus on science, mathematics, and engineering was in no way intended to diminish the importance of other academic skills that are critical for survival in a knowledge world, with reading being foremost among these "other" skills.
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From page 42... ...
We must press the "All On" button to turn off our television set remotely. I adhere to the principle that normal people believe "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," whereas engineers believe "if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough functions yet." Whatever the case, this is life in the fast lane, the only lane in the world in which we live, and those who cannot keep up seem destined to become road-kill on the information highway.
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From page 43... ...
• The United States ranks 17th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving degrees in science or engineering, a fall from third place three decades ago. It ranks 26th in the proportion receiving undergraduate degrees in mathematics.
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From page 44... ...
One apparently conservative estimate states that in 2003 China graduated about 350,000 engineers, including computer scientists and information technologists, with 4-year degrees, and the United States about 140,000. If one considers only traditional engineering degrees, the comparison becomes about 250,000 vs 60,000.
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From page 45... ...
If you want to become the massage capital of the world, you're well on your way." Punctuating that perspective, China's President Hu, speaking of the role of technology, recently stated that "the worldwide competition of overall national strength is actually a competition for talents, especially for innovative talents." The supply of scientists and engineers does not affect only the competitiveness of acknowledged high-technology companies, such as Intel, Merck, and AOL. Consider the words attributed in the Forbes CEO Forum to Fred Smith, CEO of FedEx: "As FedEx grew, it had to become a technology company as much as a transport company." Also consider Procter & Gamble, perhaps best known for its diapers, soap, and toothpaste.
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From page 46... ...
In one recent survey, when young Americans were asked whether they associated scientists with several pejorative terms provided by the pollsters, 70% of the respondents advised that they did. Geoffrey Orsak, of Southern Methodist University has written that "it is a sad reality that other young students from across the globe are clamoring to be admitted into engineering schools, yet US students who spend much of their day talking on cell phones created by engineers, driving cars
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From page 47... ...
In absolute terms, the most recent data available from America's universities show nearly 44,000 students receiving law degrees, nearly 140,000 receiving MBA's, and over 64,000 receiving bachelor's of science in engineering and 6,400 receiving PhDs in engineering (of whom 33% are US citizens)
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From page 48... ...
Part of this unfamiliarity probably stems from the fact that as they pursue their primary and secondary education, few American youths ever come into contact with a practicing engineer or scientist. It is indicative of that local nonprominence that a few years ago at a meeting of American university presidents and the presidents of seven Chinese universi ties, the US representatives were a Renaissance scholar, an economist, a political scientist, a linguist, a lawyer, and a mechanical engineer, and the Chinese delegation constituted of six physicists and an engineer.
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From page 49... ...
. The overall record reflects a serious loss of potential talent in a nation that is struggling to compete with much more populous nations in an intense global marketplace.
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From page 50... ...
saw a moderate overall increase in doctorates awarded in science and engineering by US universities; however, the 1-year gain was almost entirely attributable to non-US citizens. A Nobel laureate at one major university told me that of 50 applications by students to conduct graduate research in his laboratory, 49 came from China.
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From page 51... ...
Verne Harnish, the founder of Gazelles, an executive advisory firm for high-growth companies, is reported in Fortune as saying, "We're just not friendly any more." Viewed from the perspective of the bright young foreign student, growing prosperity elsewhere in the world has opened a whole realm of possibility: "innovation without emigration." Opportunities for meaningful employment, as well as a high quality education, are markedly increasing in many parts of the world. At a recent National Academy of Engineering workshop, Theodore Rappaport, of the University of Texas, reported that of the 57 major research initiatives recently affecting the telecommunication field, all but five originated outside the United States.
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From page 52... ...
Malaysia intends to boost the foreign student population in its universities from 70,000 in 2006 to 100,000 by 2010. Further complicating America's increasingly tenuous competitiveness position, Congress a few years ago cut the annual allotment of visas for people with critical skills by two-thirds, from 195,000 down to 65,000, that is, to 0.02% of the US population.
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From page 53... ...
The American software company doing the work could not complete it, and the only place we could go to get it done well and on time was Mumbai. The software engineers there did a great job -- and ended up knowing more about the intricacies of the American executive branch nomination and confirmation process than most scholars who teach about it." 5
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