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To: Seeker of Truth who wrote (50140)	5/18/2004 5:25:02 PM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

US will fall behind because engineering is not seen as a desirable career by large segments of US population. So the selction universe is aobut 50 million instead of 280 million. I expect it will take 10-25 years for the US to fall behind. China will quickly be close to the US level in the areas they concentrate on.

To: Seeker of Truth who wrote (50140)	5/18/2004 6:46:58 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74559

>>So why will the US fall behind China in engineering prowess? Laziness of wealth? Obsession with fighting wars? Genes? The advantage of choosing the best out of 1.3 billion rather than the best out of 300 million? Maybe a little of all of these.<< 1. Science are the weak subject for most of US students (a lot of research has shown this). In China, at least in cities, k-12 teachers usually have to be the normal university/college graduates. And science/math teachers have to major in science/math in normal universities. While in the US, even in some relatively good middle schools, plenty of (maybe more than half) science/math teachers are not college graduates, or at least they do not major in science/math at school. Mathematics has everything to do with laying a good, solid foundation, and since pupils are taught poorly from the very young, it hurts them later. 2. Smart people in China learn science/math/engineering, unlike here in the US, smart ones learn finance/business and want to go to Wallstreet to make million bucks<g>. Things in China might change but because of the much bigger pool, so it should be ok; Personally, I don't think it have much to do with genes, but "Laziness of wealth", and cultural effect do play plenty of roles here. The peer pressure in k-12 schools in the US is NOT to study hard, but dating hard, partying hard, working hard for some minimum wage at some non-skilled job just to be able to buy some brand name clothing or shoes or cosmetics to satisfy their vanity. And 9.11 and PATRIOT Act really hurt the US too since the US science and engineering schools depends on foreign talent blood, and the decline of foreign enrollment is huge in these 2 years (anywhere bet. 30-50% of decline in some very best universities).