TWIF (Part 2): America’s Career Choice Gap
“Close games for the Americans were rare in previous Olympics,
but now it appears to be something the Americans should get used to.”From an August 17, 2004, AP article from the Athens Olympics titled “U.S. Men’s Basketball Team Narrowly Beats Greece”
There are few examples that more thoroughly sum up the rest of the world’s ability to compete head-to-head with the America than the mediocre performance of the U.S. Olympic basketball team in 2004. The U.S. line up—composed completely of NBA stars and all-stars—returned home with the bronze medal after losing to Puerto Rico, Lithuania, and Argentina. Going into 2004 the United States basketball team had lost only one game in the history of modern Olympics. Remember when America sent only NCAA stars to the Olympics? And they dominated the competition! Then once they were challenged we sent our NBA stars; who once again, dominated the competition. Now our NBA stars are being successfully challenged and—though it’s hard to accept—beaten.
Believe it or not our NBA All-Stars were beaten by technology. Coaches in other countries can download our coaching methods off the web, watch our games on TV, and study ESPN’s highlight reel. In other words, they studied us so that they could beat us. And guess what? It worked.
Even so, when considering the leveled playing field created by technology Olympic basketball is important only as a metaphor. It symbolizes something much bigger and much more serious: America has failed to sufficiently invest in our future by neglecting to prepare our young people for the race ahead.
The crisis is happening on many different fronts, yet this post focuses on what I call the Career Choice Gap. American young people nowadays would rather be movie actors than scientists, pop stars rather than engineers. The generation of scientists and engineers who were motivated by the threat of Sputnik in 1957 and by the inspiration of John F. Kennedy are reaching the age of retirement and are not being adequately replaced.
An analysis of NASA records conducted by the newspaper Florida Today (March 7, 2004), showed that nearly 40 percent of the 18,146 people working for NASA are age fifty or older and 22% are fifty-five or older. Most astonishingly NASA employees over sixty outnumber employees under thirty by a ratio of nearly three to one! Only four percent of NASA workers are under thirty years old.
The National Science Board (NSB) reports that the number of American eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds who received science degrees has fallen to seventeenth in the world, even though we ranked third 30 years ago. Furthermore, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) showed that American twelfth graders finished 15th out of sixteen countries in advanced mathematics and dead last out of sixteen countries in advanced science.
Don’t think for a moment that the up-and-coming world is sitting still. Of the 2.8 million bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering granted worldwide in 2003, 1.2 million were earned by Asian students in Asian universities. Only 400,000 were granted in the United States. Shirley Ann Jackson, the 2004 president of the American Association for Advancement of Science explains, “the proportional emphasis on science and engineering is greater in other nations.”
Science and engineering degrees now represent 60 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned in China but only 31 percent in the United States. When you factor out science degrees the figures are even further removed; 46 percent of Chinese students graduate with engineering degrees vs. 5 percent of American students.
According to Friedman “these shortages could not be happening at a worse time—just when the world is going flat.” According to the NSB “the number of jobs requiring science and engineering skills in the U.S. labor force is growing almost 5 percent per year.” In comparison the labor force as a whole is growing just over 1 percent annually.
The world is speeding up and America—specifically the next generation—is falling behind. Blame could be placed on our parents but accomplishes nothing. Chinese young people are motivated and ambitious. I cannot stress enough that young Chinese and Indians are racing us to the top. They don’t want to work for us. Heck, they don’t even want to be like us. They want to dominate us. They are not content where they are and they’re studying us carefully in order to beat us. And guess what? It’s working.
A Chinese-American who works for Microsoft accompanied Bill Gates on his visits to China. He said that Gates is recognized everywhere he goes in China. Young people hang from the rafters and scalp tickets just to hear him speak. Same with Jerry Lang, the founder of Yahoo!
Contrast this obsession with the American youth culture’s preoccupation with Hollywood stars, hip-hop and pop artists, and reality TV shows such as American Idol. Our preoccupation with the “New American Dream”—namely getting rich by entertaining (sports star, movie star, pop star, etc.) has caused us to ignore traditional, foundational, and critical professions. Mr. Friedman, whose book supplied the quotations and statistics I’ve cited closes the issue:
In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears—and that’s our problem.
In Christ, Brett Harris
Continue Series with Part Three: World Champions of Triviality
October 31st, 2005 at 5:54 pm
Your information is dead-on. I teach undergraduate and graduate students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and I can vouch for the fact that engineering graduate degrees are almost exclusively going to students from China or India. Check any major engineering school in this nation and you will find the same thing, the vast majority of the graduate student population will be from those two countries.
Great site…Keep up the good work!
December 30th, 2005 at 2:47 pm
You know what, though? Labor’s cheaper overseas… I wouldn’t want to waste money on a tech degree, knowing I’ve got (maybe) 5-10 years before I’m laid off because someone in India can do the job for a quarter of my salary.
Corporate greed (expressed in hiring cheap overseas labor) can do a lot to kill ambition over here.
February 18th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Hmmm. Maybe it has to do with a skills gap and an interest gap. You don’t mention that the U.S. is in the top among science test scores it 4-8 grades Somewhere after interest in science fades.eacher are not aqudately trained in teaching science and how to capture students’ interest the U.S. education system focuses on reading and math Maybe you should address how to get it back.
December 1st, 2006 at 6:15 am
“I cannot stress enough that young Chinese and Indians are racing us to the top. They don’t want to work for us. Heck, they don’t even want to be like us. They want to dominate us.”
this comes across as a bit resentful.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:10 am
I have to agree with jie min’s post. This posting reeks of that common American insecurity about losing our place of dominance in the natural world. As followers of Jesus, should our focus be on world dominance or on losing our lives in order to find them?
I’m not advocating being becoming a generation of slackers; however, I am suggesting guarding against worldly ambition.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:14 am
PS-perhaps I misunderstand your intent, but the posting seems to suggest that American teens should aim to remain on top by getting rich the “honest” way rather than the “easy” way…correct me if I’m wrong.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:39 am
While I agree that the pursuit of technology (or the lack thereof) may be Asia’s stepboard to international dominance and America’s “leak in the bucket,” I believe it’s not all about technology. Asia may be reaching top spots in technological advancement, but she is still behind in the race for cultural development. As true rebelutionaries, young people should not only aim for science and technology–the things that give the answer for “how” in life. We must furthermore make ourselves leaders in the fields of religion, arts, literature, and culture in general–the things that give the answer for “why” in life.
January 27th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
The rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. It is diffcult, though not impossible to influence the world from the bottom up. Consider for a moment the things that America has accomplished as the leader of the world. Without Britian, and America’s help, Europe would have been completely overrun by Hitler. In the world of Missions, America, because of the economic success that God had given her, was a leader in world evangelism. Good works require resources. These resources are not limited to character and good doctrine. They must also be accompanied by material resources that allow us to meet the needs of those we are trying to evangelize.
March 10th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
“I cannot stress enough that young Chinese and Indians are racing us to the top. They don’t want to work for us. Heck, they don’t even want to be like us. They want to dominate us. They are not content where they are and they’re studying us carefully in order to beat us.”
So… we should be trying to beat and dominate the the rest of the world instead? Sure, we need to address our addiction to MTV and reality shows, but we should look at why those things are so appealing to Americans and what the deeper issues behind that are. The answer to America’s problem is not more science degrees.
Also, it shouldn’t be American versus the world. China is actually the fastest growing Christian nation in the world. Yeah, the government is communist, but there are millions and millions of Chinese Chrsistians. It makes me sick when America and Christianity are equated as one and the same. We have such an elitist mindset.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Wow. I’m afraid I don’t have anything terribly meaningful to say, other then “Brett should really adress some of the posts.” They all make good points, but don’t seem to be hitting the issue. I however, can’t think of anything other then the afor mentioned quote.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Dear Brethren in Christ:
This is my first post on this site and I just wanted to state my Christian opinion on this blog. First off, I applaud Alex and Brett for encouraging young men and women to strive for excellence rather than be slackers. Secondly, I do believe that we as a nation need to remain competitive and leaders of the free world in engineering, technological, and scientific advances. The reason being that we support Israel with our technology and help protect them from their enemies with that knowledge and we also combat anti-Christian and dictatorial regimes with the abilities we have acquired. Thirdly, America always has been a Christian nation. The vast majority of people in America base their value system on the Judeo-Christian moral code and profess a faith in God. Now I understand that not everyone who claims to be Christian is, but in the past, America was by and large the largest Christian nation in the world. And to say that we need to focus less on competition and more on preaching the gospel is true, but we cannot allow Communist nations to thrive whilst we do not even attempt to protect the rights of Christians that are being persecuted therein. America should not simply sit back and allow ourselves to become subservient to a Communist nation because we are losing our technical and scientific edge. We need to remain Christian and dominant in the market. This is not an elitist or resentful statement, this is the truth. May God bless us and allow us to win the war on radical Islam and may He bless our efforts to remain the leader of the free world.
November 20th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Thanks for highlighting the need to avoid being slackers and to keep a realistic (and Biblically true) view of success. However, I would like to point out a few issues that might become pitfalls for some who are reading this article.
»Of the 2.8 million bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering granted worldwide in 2003, 1.2 million were earned by Asian students in Asian universities. Only 400,000 were granted in the United States. Shirley Ann Jackson, the 2004 president of the American Association for Advancement of Science explains, “the proportional emphasis on science and engineering is greater in other nations.”«
I agree that this highlights a certain apathy we in America have about scientific inquiry and advancement of knowledge, perhaps, relative to other countries, but it also points to our underpreparation. It won’t help to have everyone become a scientist, nor an engineer (the two must be distinguished, though the distinction can be weakened in the academic preparation of the K-12 educational world).
»Science and engineering degrees now represent 60 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned in China but only 31 percent in the United States. When you factor out science degrees the figures are even further removed; 46 percent of Chinese students graduate with engineering degrees vs. 5 percent of American students.«
Factoring out the science degrees can be the start of a dangerous path. I would rather have a good balance between engineering and science than disproportionate weight shifted toward engineering away from both the knowledge and basis (theoretical and empirical) of science and the important contribution of the humanities. While American education is far from perfect and the problem discussed is real (not to the mention the problems with postmodernist, PC, anti-intellectual majors), let us not forget the need to be reasonably well-rounded and truly educated.
»I cannot stress enough that young Chinese and Indians are racing us to the top. They don’t want to work for us. Heck, they don’t even want to be like us. They want to dominate us. They are not content where they are and they’re studying us carefully in order to beat us. And guess what? It’s working.«
Excuse me? Is this a scare tactic? Perhaps not, but let’s keep some proper perspective here.
»Contrast this obsession with the American youth culture’s preoccupation with [...] getting rich by entertaining (sports star, movie star, pop star, etc.) has caused us to ignore traditional, foundational, and critical professions.«
Of course I prefer Bill Gates to Britney Spears any day (my background is Chinese, by the way, if that’s relevant), but let’s not train ourselves to be “efficient” engineers and computer scientists, neglect other knowledge, and then fancy our intellects well cultivated. And no offence to anyone, but an IT-trained worker does not replace a computer science graduate of UC Berkeley or Stanford.
November 20th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
»Also, it shouldn’t be American versus the world. China is actually the fastest growing Christian nation in the world. Yeah, the government is communist, but there are millions and millions of Chinese Chrsistians.«
Very true: let’s not focus on “staying on top” but for our call as Christians to excellence in how we live for God. However, I’ll say that China is far from being a Christian nation, and though God’s certainly doing great stuff there in growing the church in numbers and internal and external maturity, with some Christians making quite an impact in the fabric of the country, thus far the actual percentage of Christians in the country remains a relatively small minority, though the number exceeds the members of the communist party.
And of course in dealing with China in foreign policy, which we do have to consider some time or another, though usually not directly, there is no way to treat it as a Christian country any more than you would, say, South Korea.
»It makes me sick when America and Christianity are equated as one and the same. We have such an elitist mindset.«
Agreed. As a citizen of the heavenly city I’m averse to seeing the two as coterminous.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:56 am
i don’t even think we need to stey on top i belive that if we do whats right we will anyway.like lue-yee said there is other christian countries beside america that are really growing in christ becouse its the only thing they have to lean on, while we have vidio games tvs and so much more we have everything we could possibly need or whant
July 26th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I don’t really want to delve into the political issues mentioned here, but I want to thank you for this encouragement! I love science and math, but I sometimes wonder if Christ-followers should focus on the areas of ideology (politics, economics, international relations, even entertainment) because that’s usually where we can wield the greatest amount of public influence.
I do have a question, though. Does anyone have suggestions on how I, as a woman, should pursue science/math? I’ve been reading Elisabeth Elliott’s books, Passion and Purity and Let Me Be a Woman, and I am in agreement with her statement that the highest calling on my life is to one day be a wife and mother. But I am not in control of God’s timetable for that calling, and as a soon-to-be college freshman, I doubt that will be anytime soon. Do I set forth to become the best scientist, mathematician, or doctor I can be even if it means that I may never fully participate in my field? (For example, training to become the type of doctor I’m interested in would take 14 more years.) I would greatly appreciate it any input. Thank you!
November 1st, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Caitlin,
I hope I’m not too late to reply and I know this doesn’t have anything to do with the political debate going on here, but I believe that you should go for the medical career as long as you believe God leading you there. Although we are called to be wives and mothers I also came across 1 Corinthians 7 that talks about how singleness can be a blessing. I’m not saying that you have it (or that you don’t), but don’t wait around for a guy just so you can marry him. God will bring him to you and most likely he’ll be in your field, as long as it’s what God wants you to do. God Bless.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Caitlin I am glad to hear that you are pursuing science. I dream of having solid Christians in the world of science. People who will buck the accepted theories these so called brilliant minds have come up with. Whatever field you go into you will have to stand strong against evolution and the billions of years this planet has supposedly been around. Please stay grounded in Genesis.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
This is a really important topic, in my opinion. I’ve totally seen it in classes and church and almost any activity I have been a part of. People have really started to slack off and don’t seem to care.
“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man. . . ” Prov. 6 10-11
However, I thought that saying that the Chinese and Indians want to “dominate” was a bit powerful and could easily be taken the wrong way. (trust me, i’ve said many things like that where people misunderstand) Even so, my mother is Chrinese and she pushes me and my sibling to do well in everything. I don’t think she wants us to “dominate” but to strive for excellence and work hard, and in my case to do everything for the glory of God. While I understand the message you are communicating, I’m just saying that talking about those things is being on a really fine line.
I’m really glad you are talking about this as I am considering some career choices now, and how best to do everything for the glory of God and to be a beacon in this world. Keep up the good work and thanks for all you’ve been doing with the rebelution. Its really inspired me.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:45 am
[...] World is Flat‘ (see some great thoughts about that book here, or here in four parts 1, 2, 3 and 4) as you might be able to see from this wonderful mindmap by Brandy Agerbeck below, [...]
June 28th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Correction: Jerry Yang, not Lang was president of Yahoo! at the time this article was written.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I agree with Lue-Yee. While studying engineering and science are certainly more beneficial than MTV, I do not see why this post has such xenophobic connotations. For clarification I am not calling Brett xenophobic but the idea he seems to be promoting suggests that God has chosen America as the best country in the world and now these inferior Indians and Chinese are out to get us. As Christians we should definitely be diligent and work hard, but our fiath in God transcends all countries on the face of this earth. Countries are created by man and therefore flawed, even if they are founded on Christian principles. Are come nations more Christian than others? Of course, but I have a hard time imagining Jesus returning to Earth and favoring America over India and China.
I also agree with Alexander and think that Brett should respond to all of these posts ASAP.