The+Quiet+Crisis

The rest of the world is able to compete with the US better. The competition is arriving, but Americans are not preparing to compete with the newcomers. America is experiencing a quiet crisis, and it involves the steady erosion of America's scientific and engineering base. Today, we should be concerned about the gaps in our education, infrastucture, and ambitions that threaten to weaken us from within. These gaps are our dirty little secrets: Not only is outsourcing cheaper and more efficient, but it is also a boost in quality and productivity. America was once a magnet for all the worlds talent, but Americans began to take that for granted. "The ideal country in a flat world is the one with no natural resources, because countries with no natural resources tend to dig inside themselves. They try to tap the energy, entreprenuership, creativity, and intelligence of their own people- men and women- rather than drill an oil well. Americans and Europeans have taken their economic success for granted and are allowing individuals from around the world to compete for the same jobs. "Americans have always wanted and expected their public schools to be the agent of social mobility, the principal means by which poor people can lift themselves up by their bootstraps to grab the American brass ring." However, since public schools are funded by local school boards wealthier neighborhoods are able to fund better schools. As the world flattens, the lower end jobs are being outsourced and automated which is leaving those with poor educations with fewer and fewer options. It is important that all Americans recieve the same high standard of education. America was once the most dominant nation in the physical sciences and engineering, but countries such as China are closing the gap. While many other countries are improving their education in physical sciences and engineering, the United States is funding research and education less and less. When the U.S. gov should have been doubling the National Science Foundation budget to stay ahead of the curve, they were cutting assistance. Patents and articles in top science journals are increasingly being dominated by foreign engineers and scientists.
 * Dirty Little Secret #1: The Numbers Gap-** The generation of scientists and engineers are retiring, and they are not being replaced. Half of America's scientists and engineers are forty yeers or older, and the average age is steadily rising. Foreign scientists and engineers helped, but with the flattening of the world these same people are able to stay home to study and work, instead of coming over to America to do so.
 * Dirty Little Secret #2: The Education Gap at the Top-** The most important reason for the above numbers gap is the education gap. Decline in young Americans studying to become scientists or engineers. Mathematics and Science test scores for American children fourth grade to eighth grade are either staying stagnant or barely improving, while children in other countries are improving significantly over the last few years.
 * Dirty Little Secret #3: The Ambitious Gap**
 * Dirty Little Secret #4: The Education Gap at the Bottom**
 * Dirty Little Secret #5: The Funding Gap**