We have watched as the U.S. has fallen farther and farther behind its peer developed nations. According to the World Economic Forum’s "Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010," the U.S. now ranks 48th in the quality of its mathematics and science education.
Following on the heels of our Oct. 27 Herman Trend Alert, according to the ACT College Readiness report, 78 percent of high school graduates did not meet the readiness benchmark levels for one or more entry-level college courses in mathematics, science, reading and English.
This report is a follow-up to the U.S. Council on Competitiveness’ previous study "Rising Above the Gathering Storm Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5." (Its predecessor resulted in the "2007 America COMPETES Act.")
Though only 4 percent of the country’s workforce is made up of scientists and engineers, this group disproportionately creates jobs for the other 96 percent. Moreover, the pace of creation of new knowledge appears to be accelerating.
In fact, the U.S. is only sixth in global innovation-based competitiveness, but 40th in rate of change over the past decade. It is 11th among industrialized nations in the fraction of 25- to 34-year-olds who have graduated from high school and 16th in college completion rate. The U.S. is 22nd in the world in broadband Internet access and 24th in life expectancy at birth; and 27th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving degrees in science or engineering. Finally, and not surprisingly, the U.S. is 29th in the number of mobile phones per 100 people.
Charles Vest, former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T), president, who worked on the study, noted that "in spite of the efforts of both those in government and the private sector, the outlook for America to compete for quality jobs has further deteriorated over the past five years."
Other countries like Brazil, which have paid attention to these issues, have reaped the rewards. If the U.S. is to compete successfully on the global stage, we must put the education of our young people first. In addition, we must look for innovative ways to encourage our youth to take rigorous courses of study, especially guiding them into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) professions.
Special thanks to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman for calling our attention to this important issue.
