Our World Is Changing
This past year, global competition, especially from China and India, has been in the news a lot, causing many Americans to worry that we are in danger of losing the tremendous lead, and earning power, we have had over other countries for the past 50 years.
To see the future of a country, or a state for that matter, it’s a good idea to begin by taking a look at what is happening in the schools. After all, the future workforce is already there for us to see.
To Look Ahead, Start by Looking Back
In 1999, only 41 percent of the U.S. eighth-graders had a math teacher who had majored in mathematics at the undergraduate level or even studied the subject for teacher certification. Since our subject is global competition, it is important to know that at the same point in history, the international average of qualified math teachers was 71 percent.
Let’s face it, it’s hard to share a passion for a subject you are not trained or qualified to teach. Admittedly, this is only one factor that might affect student learning, so I decided to take a look at the latest statistics to see if this factor might “logically” have an impact on student learning.
In recent tests of general knowledge in mathematics and science, U.S. 12th graders performed well below the international average for 21 countries. In addition, an advanced mathematics assessment was conducted in 15 countries of students who were taking, or had taken advanced mathematics courses. The same assessment was conducted of U.S. students who were taking, or had taken pre-calculus, calculus, or advanced placement calculus. Eleven of the 15 countries outperformed the U.S., and four scored similarly. It should be noted that none scored significantly lower than the U.S. In other words, we were at the bottom of the barrel with a few others.
Last year, more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, the figure was 70,000.
There are several reasons this should be of concern, but to me one of the biggest is the fact that for the cost of one chemist or one engineer in the U.S., a company can hire about five chemists in China, or 11 engineers in India. You don’t need an advanced degree in mathematics to know what that means.
At this point, I know what you are thinking. The U.S. still has the best schools for higher education – our graduating chemists and engineers are better.
In response, I would like you to consider a couple of things: 1) many of the functions businesses need chemists or engineers to do, can be done by average engineers and chemists, and 2) the rest of the world is rapidly upgrading their universities to close the quality gap of education standard with the U.S.
While we are on the subject of chemists, last year 70 chemical companies in the U.S. closed their doors for the last time and 40 more are scheduled for closure in the near future. It might sound like the need for chemical plants is on the way out, yet there are 120 new chemical plants being built around the world with a price tag of 1 billion or more. Fifty of those plants are being built in China and one is being built in the U.S.
One last statistic I think you might find interesting. In 2001, U.S. industry spent more on tort litigation than on research and development.
Is the U.S. ready for global competition in the near future? After this brief look, it doesn’t look good. However, Americans have a long history of doing amazing, and even seemingly impossible things when we accept the new facts and focus our collective minds and efforts on taking action.
There is an old saying: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
Daniel Burrus, one of the world's leading technology forecasters, business strategists, and author of six books
Copyright 2006 Author retains copyright. All Rights Reserved.
