he call of Donald Trump to bring industry back to the U.S. is certainly related. Without a workforce that is willing to work in industry, this will not work. And the engineering and manufacturing workforce in the U.S., according to many industrial entrepreneurs, is tight right now.
WHY A STRATEGY IS NEEDED
President Trump wrote on the occasion of the release of the new strategy, "My administration will do everything possible to ensure that all of our children, especially those in disadvantaged areas, have access to a high-quality education in science, technology, engineering and math." These words of Trump indicate the most important difference between the U.S. strategy and the measures currently under development at the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education to support Russian schools that are the best in teaching the same STEM subjects. In our case, we are talking about the best schools, while in the U.S. we are talking about all schools, with an emphasis on disadvantaged ones. It seems that this difference in approaches requires a careful analysis of the effectiveness of one and the other.
The new strategy notes that, in a relatively short period of time by historical standards, advances in science and technology have transformed the world. Seventy-five years after the first transistor was demonstrated, we carry smartphones that contain billions of transistors, our smartphones more powerful than the supercomputer of the 1980s. Sixty-five years after the structure of DNA was discovered, we can have our personal DNA analyzed for less than a hundred dollars. Today, more than ever, the economic prosperity and national security of the United States depends on its ability to continue scientific and technological innovation.
magnifier.png "My administration will do everything possible to ensure that all of our children, especially those in disadvantaged areas, have access to a high-quality education in science, technology, engineering and math."
According to the National Research Council, Americans' basic STEM skills have improved slightly over the past two decades, but continue to lag behind many other countries. Between 2006 and 2015, fifteen-year-old Americans still mostly scored below the international average in math skills and just above the international average in science skills. Data from recent tests of high school students showed that only 20 percent of them were up to date. Elsewhere, the results are better: over the past fifteen years, India and China have surpassed the United States in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in science and engineering (S&E). Meanwhile, demand from U.S. employers for graduates with STEM degrees continues to grow.
Elizabeth Brown
