National Academies Press: OpenBook

Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth? (2007)

Chapter: IS AMERICA FALLING OFF THE FLAT EARTH?

« Previous: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Suggested Citation:"IS AMERICA FALLING OFF THE FLAT EARTH?." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2007. Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12021.
×

IS AMERICA FALLING OFF THE FLAT EARTH?

In October 2005, the National Academies, in response to a bipartisan request by members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, issued a report titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future stating that America is in substantial danger of losing its economic leadership position and suffering a concomitant decline in the standard of living of its citizens because of a looming inability to compete in the global marketplace. Since that time, well over 100 editorials and op-eds have appeared in the nation’s newspapers, at least one in every state, addressing this issue. Virtually all supported the Academies’ conclusions.

The president of the United States incorporated a number of the Academies’ recommendations in his 2006 State of the Union Address, and various bills were introduced in the Senate and House, almost all on a bipartisan basis, to implement many of the recommendations. The continuing resolution that established the federal budget in several relevant fields for FY 2007 provided an important step forward in preparing America for the intensifying global competition for jobs. Similarly, the House of Representatives (by votes of 389-22 and 397-20 on key bills) and the Senate (by a vote of 88-8) took steps to authorize many of the Academies’ recommendations in the FY 2008 budget. Final approval in the House of the America COMPETES Authorization Act was passed by a unanimous consent vote following a 367-57 approval of the conference report. President Bush signed the legislation on August 9, 2007. Private firms are also stepping forward: the ExxonMobil Foundation recently committed $125 million to help implement one element of the Academies’ proposals: improving America’s K-12 education system in science and

Suggested Citation:"IS AMERICA FALLING OFF THE FLAT EARTH?." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2007. Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12021.
×

mathematics. But competitiveness is a long-term challenge and much remains to be done in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, our competitors have not been standing still. The World Economic Forum dropped America from first to seventh place in its ranking of nations’ preparedness to benefit from advances in information technology; the number of US citizens entering engineering school declined still further; the remnants of the legendary Bell Labs, the birthplace of the laser and the transistor and the home of many Nobel laureates, were sold to a French firm; a new generation of semiconductor integrated circuits—the mortar of the modern electronics revolution—was introduced; the largest initial public offering in history was conducted by a Chinese bank; another $650 billion has been spent on US public schools while the performance of its students on standardized science tests of those about to graduate declined further; American companies once again spent three times more on litigation than on research; and in July, for the first time in history, foreign automakers sold more cars in the United States than American manufacturers.

The competitiveness issue as seen some 18 months after the National Academies’ study was completed is the topic of this essay. Its content is based on congressional testimony and a series of lectures by the author and thus offers a less formal but updated version of the findings in the Academies’ report. Although this essay draws heavily on that report and other sources, the views expressed herein are those of the author.

Suggested Citation:"IS AMERICA FALLING OFF THE FLAT EARTH?." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2007. Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12021.
×
Page 2
Suggested Citation:"IS AMERICA FALLING OFF THE FLAT EARTH?." National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. 2007. Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth?. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12021.
×
Page 3
Next: CAN AMERICA COMPETE? »
Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth? Get This Book
×
Buy Ebook | $14.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The aviation and telecommunication revolutions have conspired to make distance increasingly irrelevant. An important consequence of this is that US citizens, accustomed to competing with their neighbors for jobs, now must compete with candidates from all around the world. These candidates are numerous, highly motivated, increasingly well educated, and willing to work for a fraction of the compensation traditionally expected by US workers.

If the United States is to offset the latter disadvantage and provide its citizens with the opportunity for high-quality jobs, it will require the nation to excel at innovation--that is, to be first to market new products and services based on new knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge. This capacity to discover, create and market will continue to be heavily dependent on the nation's prowess in science and technology.

Indicators of trends in these fields are, at best, highly disconcerting. While many factors warrant urgent attention, the two most critical are these: (1) America must repair its failing K-12 educational system, particularly in mathematics and science, in part by providing more teachers qualified to teach those subjects, and (2) the federal government must markedly increase its investment in basic research, that is, in the creation of new knowledge.

Only by providing leading-edge human capital and knowledge capital can America continue to maintain a high standard of living--including providing national security--for its citizens.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!