In the new global economy, science and entrepreneurship will lead the way to new products, manufacturing, and employment. America has no dearth of entrepreneurs and also has the financial companies to back men and women with innovative ideas that have the potential to grow into substantial business.
But we lack adequate scientists and engineers to populate our economy, as our school systems are weak in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) and are not training enough students in these areas. Some of the scarcity can be covered by attracting immigrants in these fields to America through H-1B visas. Though foreign scientists and engineers are anxious to train and remain in the United States in STEM jobs, questions have been raised about whether the government grants enough H-1B visas and whether we make it too difficult for some of these scientists to stay in America. (76 percent of patents from America’s top ten patent-producing universities in 2011 were generated by foreign-born inventors.) Many of these immigrant scientists also have dual allegiances and can be lured back to their home countries or to other nations who are willing to increase their pay and benefits.
Why aren’t American schools developing enough engineers and scientists on their own? There are a number of reasons for this, some of it rooted in politics and some rooted in religion. Local and state school boards in many areas of the country contain members who support teaching creationism or intelligent design in their schools, and refuse to accept evolution or the Big Bang as valid theories. Many of these members promote Biblical teaching in a literal fashion as the word of God and believe the world was created five to six thousand years ago. Some also believe that men and dinosaurs existed on the earth at the same time and won’t accept carbon dating as convincing. Even more of them do not accept global warming as a real phenomenon or that mankind is in any way responsible.
With these state school boards responsible for choosing the text books that will be used in the schools, and local boards picking the teachers, one can see how difficult it can be in these geographical regions to teach valid science. Teachers in some districts are actually teaching creationism or intelligent design to their students as possible theories, sometimes along with evolution and sometimes alone. It is amazing that almost a century after the Scopes trial, the same battles are being fought over and over again.
In addition to the teaching of non-scientific theories in many schools, the quality of STEM
teachers is very variable. As in nations like Finland and Singapore that set stringent qualifications for their teachers, we should mandate that our teachers come from the top quarter of their classes academically. To insure that the students are learning the material being presented, we have to be certain that the teachers are bright and engaged. Merit-based pay and bonuses for teachers in STEM subjects whose students do well on testing, would also be worthwhile, as student achievements could be measured objectively.
Unfortunately, the federal government is also cutting back on dollars spent for basic scientific
research, as our politicians are blind to the value of research in developing new products and new jobs. Many young scientists have had to give up the projects they were pursuing because funding was no longer available to continue their work.
Since the future of our nation is tied directly to our scientific productivity, we should do all in our power to train new scientists and engineers and attract immigrants with these skills to our shores. Religious beliefs regarding creationism and intelligent design have no place in our schools or school textbooks. Generous funding should be made available by the federal government for scientific research and development. In this time when the government is shut down because of a deadlocked Congress, with the increase in the debt ceiling yet to be passed, ways to improve STEM teaching and attract young scientists to America may seem like unimportant issues. But if America is to be successful in the long term, they are not.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020