If I remember correctly, the whole “competitiveness” scare goes back to the 1980s when the Japanese supposedly started outstripping the U.S. in science, engineering, and mathematics. Ever since then it has been a boogieman issue used for increasingly heavy-handed federal involvement in local schools to try and churn out genius automatons, to the detriment of everything else.
Didn’t it start back in the late 50s and early 60s when the Russians were able to send men into space and we weren’t. Good thing we cured that. < /s>