India is taking the education of its next generation much more seriously than the U.S.
Science and Engineering Need to Be Cool Again
India is taking the education of its next generation much more seriously than the U.S.
FORTUNEWednesday, March 2, 2005 By David Kirkpatrick
After my trip to India last month, which I wrote about in my last column, “India's Virtual Ties with the U.S.”, my worldview has been changing. Now more than ever, I'm aware of how quickly the divide between the developed countries and developing ones is closing. Seeing what’s happening in India helps make it clear that the U.S. can no longer count on remaining the world's technological leader. To stay competitive with India—and other emerging economies—it must do more to train young Americans in the sciences and technology. My thoughts were reinforced at an awards luncheon that I attended on Monday for the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, a forum of CEOs that addresses how businesses and philanthropies can work better together. (I was a juror.)
What got my attention at the awards ceremony was how often the urgency of America’s education crisis emerged as a theme. In his remarks, Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric (which shared the big-company award with Novartis), explicitly drew the link that prompts this column. “In India and China,” he said, “30% of the students get science and engineering degrees. In the U.S., it’s 4%.” Immelt described some of GE’s efforts to help high-school students better understand the sciences and to prepare them for college. Of course, it’s in GE’s interest for students to study engineering and science, but it was apparent from Immelt’s comments that his concerns go beyond his company's needs. He fears that the U.S. will lose its competitive advantage if we don’t get more kids interested in these subjects. He’s not alone.
Earlier, I had chatted over lunch with Henry Schacht, former CEO of Lucent and Cummins Engine. I told him about my trip to India and recounted a few of the points I made in last week’s column—how so many of India's youth are amazingly energetic, eager to work, and well-trained. Schacht, who has been going to India since the 1950s, is also deeply impressed with the country’s progress. And like Immelt, he sees a big contrast between the attitudes and trends here toward the hard sciences vs. those in India. The U.S., Schacht worries, is not creating enough trained scientists and other experts at a time when the sciences are leading the global economy. He told me the U.S. needs to embark on a major nationwide campaign to remake our entire educational system—from elementary school through college.
The CECP also gave an award Monday for the philanthropy that does the best job working with business to achieve the group’s goals. The winner was Jumpstart—a wonderful nonprofit that helps low-income U.S. preschool children develop the skills they’ll need to succeed in school. It was nominated twice—by Pearson PLC and by Starbucks, two of its corporate partners. Jumpstart trains college students to mentor kids. Jumpstart CEO Rob Waldron told the audience how a typical poor child in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, for instance, gets read to for as little as 25 hours prior to entering kindergarten, while in an affluent neighborhood like the Upper East Side, the figure is closer to 1,700 hours. Low-income children on average have one-quarter the vocabulary of their middle-income peers by age five.
Waldron criticized what he called the “near-feudal” education system in the U.S. He clearly worries that these kids will be woefully unprepared for life as adults in a world increasingly dependent on technology.
It amazes me that with such wide recognition that the country is facing an education crisis, we don't seem to be able to get major traction to repair it. What ever happened to George W. Bush’s promise that he would be the “education president”? No Child Left Behind may have its virtues (and also its problems), but it certainly doesn’t seem sufficient. We need massive infusions of funds and creativity, and we also need a consistent message from the White House on down that this is a national crisis that must be addressed soon.
In India, it is every parent’s dream that his child become either an engineer or a doctor. In the U.S., engineering is considered uncool. A friend recently told me about a conversation in which a parent was almost apologetic that her son was studying chemical engineering.
We need to talk bluntly about how our country’s powerful competitive position in the world—the source of all the wealth that has so distinguished us from everyone else for the last 50 years—is not something we can take for granted. In fact, it is probably in jeopardy, as citizens in other nations— India, China, and elsewhere—show a more tenacious work ethic and a greater willingness to tackle tough subjects like engineering. We better get cracking, because it is becoming increasingly clear that countries whose citizens have science and engineering knowledge are the ones that will triumph in the future.
Questions? Comments? E-mail them to me at dkirkpatrick@fortunemail.com
India is taking the education of its next generation much more seriously than the U.S.
FORTUNEWednesday, March 2, 2005 By David Kirkpatrick
After my trip to India last month, which I wrote about in my last column, “India's Virtual Ties with the U.S.”, my worldview has been changing. Now more than ever, I'm aware of how quickly the divide between the developed countries and developing ones is closing. Seeing what’s happening in India helps make it clear that the U.S. can no longer count on remaining the world's technological leader. To stay competitive with India—and other emerging economies—it must do more to train young Americans in the sciences and technology. My thoughts were reinforced at an awards luncheon that I attended on Monday for the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, a forum of CEOs that addresses how businesses and philanthropies can work better together. (I was a juror.)
What got my attention at the awards ceremony was how often the urgency of America’s education crisis emerged as a theme. In his remarks, Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric (which shared the big-company award with Novartis), explicitly drew the link that prompts this column. “In India and China,” he said, “30% of the students get science and engineering degrees. In the U.S., it’s 4%.” Immelt described some of GE’s efforts to help high-school students better understand the sciences and to prepare them for college. Of course, it’s in GE’s interest for students to study engineering and science, but it was apparent from Immelt’s comments that his concerns go beyond his company's needs. He fears that the U.S. will lose its competitive advantage if we don’t get more kids interested in these subjects. He’s not alone.
Earlier, I had chatted over lunch with Henry Schacht, former CEO of Lucent and Cummins Engine. I told him about my trip to India and recounted a few of the points I made in last week’s column—how so many of India's youth are amazingly energetic, eager to work, and well-trained. Schacht, who has been going to India since the 1950s, is also deeply impressed with the country’s progress. And like Immelt, he sees a big contrast between the attitudes and trends here toward the hard sciences vs. those in India. The U.S., Schacht worries, is not creating enough trained scientists and other experts at a time when the sciences are leading the global economy. He told me the U.S. needs to embark on a major nationwide campaign to remake our entire educational system—from elementary school through college.
The CECP also gave an award Monday for the philanthropy that does the best job working with business to achieve the group’s goals. The winner was Jumpstart—a wonderful nonprofit that helps low-income U.S. preschool children develop the skills they’ll need to succeed in school. It was nominated twice—by Pearson PLC and by Starbucks, two of its corporate partners. Jumpstart trains college students to mentor kids. Jumpstart CEO Rob Waldron told the audience how a typical poor child in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, for instance, gets read to for as little as 25 hours prior to entering kindergarten, while in an affluent neighborhood like the Upper East Side, the figure is closer to 1,700 hours. Low-income children on average have one-quarter the vocabulary of their middle-income peers by age five.
Waldron criticized what he called the “near-feudal” education system in the U.S. He clearly worries that these kids will be woefully unprepared for life as adults in a world increasingly dependent on technology.
It amazes me that with such wide recognition that the country is facing an education crisis, we don't seem to be able to get major traction to repair it. What ever happened to George W. Bush’s promise that he would be the “education president”? No Child Left Behind may have its virtues (and also its problems), but it certainly doesn’t seem sufficient. We need massive infusions of funds and creativity, and we also need a consistent message from the White House on down that this is a national crisis that must be addressed soon.
In India, it is every parent’s dream that his child become either an engineer or a doctor. In the U.S., engineering is considered uncool. A friend recently told me about a conversation in which a parent was almost apologetic that her son was studying chemical engineering.
We need to talk bluntly about how our country’s powerful competitive position in the world—the source of all the wealth that has so distinguished us from everyone else for the last 50 years—is not something we can take for granted. In fact, it is probably in jeopardy, as citizens in other nations— India, China, and elsewhere—show a more tenacious work ethic and a greater willingness to tackle tough subjects like engineering. We better get cracking, because it is becoming increasingly clear that countries whose citizens have science and engineering knowledge are the ones that will triumph in the future.
Questions? Comments? E-mail them to me at dkirkpatrick@fortunemail.com
posted by Mahesh Shetty at 2:22 PM
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