Why We're Failing in Math and Science

Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by hugh on Friday August 15, 2008 @03:06PM (#277228)

But is that really true? From what I hear, the great unwashed Chinese masses are just as capable of getting excited over dumb pop-culture ephemera as our own.

Ultimately it's the top few percent who produce technological innovation anyway.

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Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by wallflower on Friday August 15, 2008 @03:39PM (#277260)

Yes, one of America's biggest exports is their pop culture. The whole Baywatch being the most watched TV show of all time. The fact that washed-up American C-list celebrities can have a second life in Asian markets (alluded to in Lost in Translation).

It's hard to prove that Chinese culture places a greater value on education than Americans. And you can argue that Chinese education is slanted towards perfection of memorization (tangent: is that why they can copy anything?) But consider that the elite Politburo is ruled by engineers - how many people on Bush's cabinet have engineering pedigree?

"For the first time ever, all the members of China's elite Politburo Standing Committee, the highest tier within the Communist Party, are card-carrying engineers."

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/print/1231 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politburo_of_the_Communist_Part...

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Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by menloparkbum on Friday August 15, 2008 @04:59PM (#277356)

East Asia also has a pop music industry that surpasses the USA in manufacturing and promoting disposable celebrities. If you combine J-Pop, K-pop and "C-pop" music there are dozens of new asian Britney Spears equivalents on the scene every year who achieve at least minor levels of success.

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Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by newt0311 on Friday August 15, 2008 @03:48PM (#277274)

Thats even worse for us. China's top few percent is a lot larger than ours and considering the ratio of graduates in technical fields, is going to stay that way.

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Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by davidw on Friday August 15, 2008 @05:13PM (#277362)

How is that 'worse'? Having those people busy inventing cool stuff will make the whole world better, rather than having them working in rice fields, or locked up building nukes.

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Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by pchristensen on Friday August 15, 2008 @04:31PM (#277332)

But it's not the top few percent of any sub-population. It's the top few percent worldwide, regardless of where they are. If all of the Chinese PhD students in the US went back to China, then they (China or any other country) would be a lot better off. As long as a majority of the top students are studying, working, and researching at US universities, labs, and companies, America will produce the best innovations. If they go back to their home countries, well, we're in a heap of trouble.

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Re:Why We're Failing in Math and Science by aswanson on Friday August 15, 2008 @07:51PM (#277470)

If they go back to their home countries, well, we're in a heap of trouble.

Maybe not. Maybe they can improve the quality of living there which adds to social stability, or come up with an innovation that can be shared with the planet, as information as easily shared these days. Things may work out in any case.

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