WP: Opinion: Learning to Lose? Our Education System Isn't Ready for a World of Competition

Washington Post 12/06/05
author: Norman R. Augustine
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved

In the five decades since I began working in the aerospace industry, I have never seen American business and academic leaders as concerned about this nation's future prosperity as they are today.

On the surface, these concerns may seem unwarranted. Two million jobs were created in the United States in the past year. Citizens of other nations continue to invest their savings in this country at a remarkable rate. Our nation still has the strongest scientific and technological enterprise -- and the best research universities -- in the world.

But deeper trends in this country and abroad are signs of a gathering storm. After the Cold War, nearly 3 billion potential new capitalists entered the job market. A substantial portion of our workforce now finds itself in direct competition for jobs with highly motivated and often well-educated people from around the world. Workers in virtually every economic sector now face competitors who live just a mouse click away in Ireland, Finland, India, China, Australia and dozens of other nations.
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Other nations will continue to have the advantage of lower wages, so the United States must compete on the basis of its strengths. Throughout the 20th century, one of these strengths was our knowledge-based resources -- particularly science and technology. But the scientific and technological foundations of our economic leadership are eroding at a time when many other nations are building their innovative capacity.
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But the U.S. educational system is failing in precisely those areas that underpin our competitiveness: science, engineering and mathematics.
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The writer is the retired chairman and chief executive of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Mr. Augustine is correct. But the question is are we willing to do anything about it? We seem to be aware of the issues. We see the fear, and the threats. There has been some talk. But politics will probably interfear until it is to late to produce substaintial changes. The lag between schooling and productive citizens is too long for us to just sit around and react. We are all to willing to wait until a problem is in our collective faces, before we try to do anything about it. Usually, by then, it is too late...

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