I see it everyday at work - none, and I mean NONE, of my colleagues with college bound children are sending them for engineering. NONE will follow in their parents career paths, because their parents see what is going on. trust me, its happening. if not for the enrollment of foreign nationals, US engineering programs would be closing up in droves.
Oh, I believe you. The people you work with aren't sending their kids to engineering school. I understand. I'm not sending my daughter to medical school either. She's made her own decision to go there. Unfortunately it isn't international trade or NAFTA or India or China that is causing otherwise intelligent kids to shun difficult majors. It is the absolute decline of public (government) schools beginning with the early grades. We have dumbed down our children to the point where the only thing they can understand is what a liberal political science teacher says.
Now there's a reliable source for making global statements! Please...