Is America Falling Off the Flat Earth? (2007)
Chapter: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The aviation and telecommunication revolutions have conspired to makedistance increasingly irrelevant. An important consequence of this is that UScitizens, accustomed to competing with their neighbors for jobs, now mustcompete with candidates from all around the world. These candidates arenumerous, highly motivated, increasingly well educated, and willing to workfor a fraction of the compensation traditionally expected by US workers.
If the United States is to offset the latter disadvantage and provide its citizens with theopportunity for high-quality jobs, it will require the nation to excel at innovation—that is,to be first to market new products and services based on new knowledge and the abilityto apply that knowledge. This capacity to discover, create and market will continue to beheavily dependent on the nation’s prowess in science and technology.
Indicators of trends in these fields are, at best, highly disconcerting. While manyfactors warrant urgent attention, the two most critical are these: (1) America must repairits failing K-12 educational system, particularly in mathematics and science, in part byproviding more teachers qualified to teach those subjects, and (2) the federal governmentmust markedly increase its investment in basic research, that is, in the creation of newknowledge.
Only by providing leading-edge human capital and knowledge capital can Americacontinue to maintain a high standard of living—including providing national security—forits citizens.
