Replies

1. U.S. science may be in decline.

2. After 50 years of supremacy, both scientifically and economically, America now faces formidable challenges from foreign governments that have recognized scientific research and new technology as the fuels of a powerful economy.

It's funny, in a tragic sort of way (understandable considering what Richard Mitchell said in The Graves of Academe), that the writer of the article posted above could make the two statements and believe they are equivalent. That more emphasis is being placed on science in other places does not mean that the quality of science in the United States is declining. Of course, if fewer highly qualified students come to the U.S. for education and training in the sciences and that is not made up for by equally qualified American students, then that institution known as "U.S. science" could be said to be endangered. However, I don't think that many of these other nations have the resources to match our research institutions. For instance, not too long ago the Times of London rated the top five educational institutions in the world as Harvard, Yale, The University of Chicago, Oxford, and Cambridge. They put the American schools ahead because these schools (all three private schools) have endowments that dwarf those of the UK schools.

That said, we should realize, given what Richard Mitchell said in the above-mentioned book, freely available at www.sourcetext.com, that the future of U.S. education is in peril. Even private schools won't help as long as the teachers in those schools have been "trained" by the educational bureaucracy. But even teachers who have graduated from private colleges with schools of teacher education do not escape damage since these schools' accreditation as institutes of teacher training depends on meeting the requirements of the educational bureaucracy.