Broad Federal Effort Urgently Needed to Create High-Quality Jobs

Broad Federal Effort Urgently Needed to Create New, High-Quality Jobs for All Americans in the 21st Century

WASHINGTON -- The unmatched vitality of the United States' economy and science and technology enterprise has made this country a world leader for decades, allowing Americans to benefit from a high standard of living and national security. But in a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas so that the nation will consistently gain from the opportunities offered by rapid globalization, says a new report from the National Academies.

Given the United States' history of economic and scientific pre-eminence, it is easy to be complacent about these complex issues, the report says. Following are some indicators that illustrate why decisive action is needed now:

· For the cost of one chemist or one engineer in the United States, a company can hire about five chemists in China or 11 engineers in India.

· Last year chemical companies shuttered 70 facilities in the United States and have tagged 40 more for closure. Of 120 chemical plants being built around the world with price tags of $1 billion or more, one is in the United States and 50 are in China.

· U.S. 12th-graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on a test of general knowledge in mathematics and science. In addition, an advanced mathematics assessment was administered to students in 15 other countries who were taking or had taken advanced math courses, and to U.S. students who were taking or had taken pre-calculus, calculus, or Advanced Placement calculus. Eleven countries outperformed the United States, and four scored similarly. None scored significantly below the United States.

· In 1999 only 41 percent of U.S. eighth-graders had a math teacher who had majored in mathematics at the undergraduate or graduate level or studied the subject for teacher certification -- a figure that was considerably lower than the international average of 71 percent. · Last year more than 600,000 engineers graduated from institutions of higher education in China. In India, the figure was 350,000. In America, it was about 70,000.

· In 2001 U.S. industry spent more on tort litigation than on research and development.

Without a major push to strengthen the foundations of America's competitiveness, the United States could soon lose its privileged position. The ultimate goal is to create new, high-quality jobs for all citizens by developing new industries that stem from the ideas of exceptional scientists and engineers.

The congressionally requested report -- written by a 20-member committee that included university presidents, CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, and former presidential appointees -- makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology (S&T) efforts on meeting the nation's need for clean, affordable, and reliable energy. Some actions will involve changing existing laws, while others will require financial support that would come from reallocating existing budgets or increasing them. The committee believes that ongoing evaluation of the results should be included in all of the measures.

"America must act now to preserve its strategic and economic security by capitalizing on its knowledge-based resources, particularly in S&T, and maintaining the most fertile environment for new and revitalized industries that create well-paying jobs," said committee chair Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. "The building blocks of our economic leadership are wearing away. The challenges that America faces are immense."

A brief overview of the four recommendations follows, with a sample of proposed actions to implement them.

Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education.

· Among the recommended implementation steps is the creation of a merit-based scholarship program to attract 10,000 exceptional students to math and science teaching careers each year. Four-year scholarships, worth up to $20,000 annually, should be designed to help some of the nation's top students obtain bachelor's degrees in physical or life sciences, engineering, or mathematics -- with concurrent certification as K-12 math and science teachers. After graduation, they would be required to work for at least five years in public schools. Participants who teach in disadvantaged inner-city or rural areas would receive a $10,000 annual bonus. Each of the 10,000 teachers would serve about 1,000 students over the course of a teaching career, having an impact on 10 million minds, the report says. Sowing the Seeds

· Policy-makers should increase the national investment in basic research by 10 percent each year over the next seven years. Special attention should be paid to the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, and information sciences, and to basic research funding for the U.S. Department of Defense, the report says.

· Policy-makers also should establish within the U.S. Department of Energy an organization called the Advanced Research Project Agency -- Energy (ARPA-E) that reports to the undersecretary for science and sponsors "out-of-the-box" energy research to meet the nation's long-term energy challenges.

· Authorities should make 200 new research grants annually -- worth $500,000 each, payable over five years -- to the nation's most outstanding early-career researchers. Best and Brightest

Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the United States and abroad. The United States should be considered the most attractive setting in the world to study and conduct research, the report says.

· Each year, policy-makers should provide 25,000 new, competitive four-year undergraduate scholarships and 5,000 new graduate fellowships to U.S. citizens enrolled in physical science, life science, engineering, and mathematics programs at U.S. colleges and universities.

· Policy-makers should provide a one-year automatic visa extension that allows international students to remain in the United States to seek employment if they have received doctorates or the equivalent in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or other fields of national need from qualified U.S. institutions. If these students then receive job offers from employers that are based in the United States and pass a security screening test, they should automatically get work permits and expedited residence status. If they cannot obtain employment within one year, their visas should expire. Incentives for Innovation

Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation. This can be accomplished by actions such as modernizing the U.S. patent system, realigning tax policies to encourage innovation, and ensuring affordable broadband Internet access, the report says.

· Policy-makers should provide tax incentives for innovation that is based in the United States. The Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office should conduct a comprehensive analysis to examine how the United States compares with other nations as a location for innovation and related activities, with the goal of ensuring that the nation is one of the most attractive places in the world for long-term investment in such efforts. · The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit is currently for companies that increase their R&D spending above a predetermined level. To encourage private investment in innovation, this credit, which is scheduled to expire in December, should be made permanent. And Congress and the administration should increase the allowable credit from 20 percent to 40 percent of qualifying R&D investments.

The study was sponsored by the National Academies, which comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. A committee roster follows.

Copies of Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future will be available this fall from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a pre-publication copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).

Norman R. Augustine1 (chair) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lockheed Martin Corp. (retired) Bethesda, Md.

Gail Cassell2 Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Distinguished Lilly Research Scholar for Infectious Diseases Eli Lilly and Co. Indianapolis

Steven Chu3 Director E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, Calif.

Nancy S. Grasmick State Superintendent of Schools Maryland Department of Education Baltimore

Charles O. Holliday Jr.1 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer DuPont Wilmington, Del.

Anita K. Jones1 Lawrence R. Quarles Professor of Engineering and Applied Science School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Virginia Charlottesville

Joshua Lederberg2,3 Sackler Foundation Scholar Rockefeller University New York City

C. Daniel Mote Jr.1 President and Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering University of Maryland College Park

Cherry A. Murray1,3 Deputy Director for Science and Technology Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, Calif.

Lee R. Raymond1 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Exxon Mobil Corp. Irving, Texas

Robert C. Richardson3 Vice Provost for Research and F.R. Newman Professor of Physics Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y.

P. Roy Vagelos2,3 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Merck & Co. Inc. (retired) Bedminster, N.J.

Charles M. Vest1 President Emeritus Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge

George M. Whitesides1,3 Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor of Chemistry Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

Richard N. Zare3 Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science Department of Chemistry Stanford University Stanford, Calif.

1 Member, National Academy of Engineering 2 Member, Institute of Medicine 3 Member, National Academy of Sciences

NCLB militates against increased performance in practice because of its wrongheaded assumption that all children can be high acheivers.

I see it leading to even greater disruption in the classroom as the frustration level of those who must struggle just to maintain minimum passing grades will lash out at the closest targets of their perceived source of discomfort, the teachers and the innately apt.

All successful societies are stratified by nature and those that aren't don't remain successful.

The U.S. could be a world leader in life-extension science but might find itself in the curious position of leading the world in suicide, domestic violence and park-bench philosophy.

Gee Whiz technology gets us worthless devices made simply for mass entertainment as well as mass spectrometers designed to analyze the purity of the very air we seem to be determined to waste in simple pursuits.

What we really need is a new world, hostile and wild, one worth the taming.

But that same entrepreneurial skill is being stifled at every turn.

This is definitely a cause for concern. Historically, as a country, we have idolized the entrepreneurial spirit and have encouraged risk taking while not fearing failure. The successful entrepreneur is an American hero who has always been richly rewarded.

I can't think of another country that has developed this as a defining element of their culture. My concern is that government could negatively impact this process by increasing regulation and taxation. At some point, our elected representatives are going to have to enact serious tort reform. The proliferation of frivolous lawsuits will most certainly stifle risk taking.

We are still the world leader in almost every area of technology. The direct impetus for technological innovation and progress is (and has always been) the entrepreneurial search for profits and a competitive economy.

"This country isn't losing its ability to compete with India and China because our education system is poor. It's because our education system is poor but we pay a lot of freakin' money for it."

I believe this to be true.

Universal education funded by taxation and administrated by government has not delivered on even one of the promises made by it's early proponents. Heavens, it was going to stop crime and make us all law abiding, for Heaven's sake. End poverty. Stop body odor. ;-)

One could say that ending the "Public School" system is desirable, but I would disagree. Some form of indoctrination is necessary for the "masses". Perhaps television and other "entertainment" can fulfill this function eventually.

schools need to revert back to how they were in the 50's.

discipline, uniforms, consequenses for non performance and
misbehavior, corporal punishment, homework.

the nation needs to reject the model of schools as extensions of the public square. deleterious influences
should be excluded from schools, and we need to appoint
judges who realize this.

We DO need a broader Federal Effort!! The Feds need to GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!

You can say that again-- maybe next time with < b> < font size="4"> tags.

Libs like to whine about how we need more federal money poured into a supposedly failing US education system. They're telling the truth that they want our tax money, they're just lying when they say they think a US education is bad.

Sure, there's lots of conservatives who say US schools are bad and don't believe it too --Rush is a good example of a bad example-- but whether it's either double-think, hypocrisy, or flat out lying, IMHO it's stupid.

Lawsuit-happy trial lawyers are only part of the problem. Other problems are the public schools (students at expensive private acedemies do very well in such tests) and corporate America's culture of greed and entitlement. Like it or not, the business community is part of the problem.

>>It also doesn't help that there aren't many good science teachers in the K-12 schools.

The work rules requiring education degrees / certificates in order to teach really hamstrings the hiring of technically qualified people. People with math, science and engineering undergrad backgrounds should be able to go straight to a classroom to teach, with maybe a 6-week teacher training class. Getting the "Bulletin Boards 202"-type classes from an Education undergrad program is not necessary, but is now the sort of thing that is required in most states in order to teach K-12 in the gubmint skools.

Like it or not, the business community is part of the problem.

Correction: the "transnational" business community is part of the problem.

A House Divided: Manufacturing In Crisis

The cost differential between American and foreign engineers (like manufacturing) is simply too great.

Sadly, to restore America to greatness it may take China to invade Taiwan so war breaks out. Overnight the Walmart imports stop, offshoring and H1-B visas stop, social spending growth stops, manufacturing takes off, real education is needed, serious investment in technology such as robotic weapon systems starts, everyone becomes focused on one objective. After the war, there is so much robotics technology that many people find new high paying jobs building and taking care of robots, and cheap third world labor becomes irrelevant.

It's too bad this can't happen without war to focus us. I wish there was a way to induce this behavior without war.

Victoria's Secret recently developed as machine that produces a bra out of a single piece of material. And, as any high school boy can tell you, a bra is a very complicated piece of clothing.

If this type of development keeps up, then it may bring some manufacturing back to the u.s. though how much, I couldn't say.

For the most part, we ain't seeing these jobs coming back. We're now in an "all or nothing" mode. The days of a "nice" job with security are over.

WTF do we need to be spending money on Internet Access, for crying out loud? We ALREADY HAVE the most widespread internet access on the face of the friggin planet

One correction, Willie. For example Korea has much more advanced Internet access, thanx to goverment policies.

Every person on the Committee that produced this report represents organizations that stand to profit from the increased tax spending that the report recommends. Take tax money from individuals. Give tax money to academia so they can train future corporate employees at taxpayer expense. What a surprise. More gravy train to sustain the educational/corporate community elite.

What makes these committee members think they can engage in economic planning any better than the Soviets could?

One correction, Willie. For example Korea has much more advanced Internet access, thanx to goverment policies.

South Korea has 48 million people crammed into an area that's about the size of Indiana.
With a population density that concentrated, it's pretty easy to provide "widespread" internet infrastructure.

"I read recently where Microsoft stated that Indian Engineers were good at structure, but were unimaginative, and were not able to "think outside of the box". For this reason, most of their real R&D is still located in Redmund. "
And in redmond a third of their employees is Indian. So the "Indians cant think outside the box" argument doesnt hold water. Plus most of the jobs created in the US economy dont need genius level folks anyway. They are fairly pedestrian jobs.

A big problem is that too many American kids go into the liberal arts and wind up getting useless degrees like Black Lesbian Studies.

When you have to compete with Third World wages, the engineering degree might be as valuable as Black Lesbian Studies.

Stopping h1b visas will not accomplish anything. The wage differential will still prevail. In my company they have stopped hiring h1bs several years ago and now they are simply moving the work to India. They have not hired anyone all of last year.

The only way for the wage differential to reduce is the decline in the US dollar. Let the asian currencies appreciate 30% and then the whole outsourcing logic comes to a standstill. The dollar needs to depreciate fast even if that means some inflation. Alan greenspan isnt getting it though.

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