Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth? (2007) / Chapter Skim
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GONDWANALAND LIVES!
GONDWANALAND LIVES!
Pages 65-74
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From page 65... ...
It is tempting, especially for people who are disciples of Adam Smith (a group that includes myself) , simply to dismiss the untidy competitiveness matter that results from this drift by saying, "Let market forces solve the problem." But, unfortunately, that is the problem -- at least from America's perspective.
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From page 66... ...
One observer, Electrical Engineering Times, recently provided the following assessment in the introduction to its annual State of the Engineer Survey: "The single, young, energetic, upwardly mobile engineer constantly angling for better pay and greener pastures was for decades a Silicon Valley stereotype. But that image no longer holds true.
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From page 67... ...
Seven of the latter are briefly described below: The first is an environment that provides researchers and inventors the freedom to explore -- an environment that offers creative, inquisitive people the opportunity to pursue promising new avenues that may appear unexpectedly in their research and to be rewarded for their successes. The classic example at least of the former would be Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin.
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From page 68... ...
When Alexander Graham Bell offered his world-changing invention, the telephone, for a fee of $100,000 to the Western Union Company, at that time one of the giants on the American corporate scene, the company flatly rejected the offer. A memo dated in 1876 was later found in the files of Western Union dismissing the proposal on the following grounds: "This ‘telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." After all, what could a person with a telephone say that couldn't be said with Morse code?
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From page 69... ...
A prime example of the former is represented in a quotation from Alex Lewyt, the founder and president of the home-appliance company that once bore his name, who informed us in 1955 that "nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will be a reality within 10 years." Fortunately, he was wrong. Sixth is an interactive environment wherein creative people can identify and pursue synergistic cross-cutting technologies -- what University of Maryland Dean of Engineering Nariman Farvardin has described as "hyphenated engineering." Innovations are increasingly -- but certainly not exclusively -- being derived from the process of combining diverse technologies and disciplines, as opposed to mining of a single field in ever greater depth.
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From page 70... ...
During the past year, several states have conducted Gathering Storm assess ments of their own, and major convocations have been held at the state and national lev els to address additional actions that could strengthen America's future competitiveness. In the Gathering Storm report, the Academies' overall recommendations were cou pled to the critical challenge of eliminating America's energy vulnerability (as opposed to "becoming energy-independent" -- a virtually unreachable goal)
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From page 71... ...
. • Provide 10,000 new mathematics and science teachers each year by funding competitively awarded 4-year scholarships for US citizens at US institutions that offer special programs leading to core degrees in mathematics, science, or engineering accompanied by a teaching certificate.
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From page 72... ...
• Continue to improve visa processing for international students. • Offer a 1-year visa extension to PhD recipients in science, technology, engineer ing, mathematics or other fields of national need, grant automatic work permits to those meeting security requirements and obtaining employment, provide a prefer ential system for acquiring citizenship for those who complete their degrees, and repeal the mandatory "go-away" provision now in US immigration law.
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From page 73... ...
For example, the highest-priority recommendation -- produce mathematics and science teachers holding primary degrees in these fields -- has been addressed by at least two privately sponsored, highly successful endeavors: UTeach and Teach for America. UTeach reports that 22% of its participants, on completing their undergraduate degrees, voluntarily go on to teach in high school.
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From page 74... ...
We have a federal budget of $2.8 trillion, and a GDP of $13 trillion. The affordability of funding for education, research, and innovation is simply a matter of whatever priority we wish to assign to meeting the competitiveness challenge and offering our children and grandchildren the opportunity to enjoy a high-quality standard of living.
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