Jack,
Lowell and Salzman are probably looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Their comforting image of science and technology education as more than adequate neglects to mention the facts that we are being out-produced educationally at over 100:1 by emerging powers globally, and that supply being adequate for the available jobs is merely an indictment of the abandonment of manufacturing here!
To put it in clear terms: a past leader in the industrialized world, England, almost certainly meets the same criteria as proposed in this report, but there is no doubt that, in relation to continued leadership, England has jumped the shark.
At 100:1, the small details of numbers of graduates, whether or not they’re citizens, or even the general quality of education, all are insignificant. We lose science, technology, and manufacturing, regardless. You see it in the basic world of machining, but it’s much more pervasive, and extremely obvious to anyone still trying to manufacture here. The educational and financial infrastructures are still here, but they are wildly insufficient for the global economy.
Richard Stein
President
Cooke Vacuum Products
S. Norwalk, CT
