Climate Change Now
As more American kids are sent off to college unprepared in the areas of math and science, scientists are growing increasingly vocal about the administration’s disregard for their proper role in our society. Some are claiming to be pressured to change conculsions that don’t support policy positions (this happened to a woman Sarah works with whose input was sought regarding climate change).
Meanwhile, one can find stories of the attack on science in the classroom almost daily. Without sounding too alarmist, I wonder how we?ll compete against India, China, and other countries in the realm of science, technology, and research, when science is dismissed by our president and is becoming a four-letter word by many in our country.
A new report boils it down: our education system is failing, the best no longer want to be here, and federal R&D investment is faltering. For the “past 60 years America has been the beneficiary of an influx of many of the most talented minds on the planet” but post-9/11 immigration policy is sending these kind of people elsewhere. Creative Class cheerleaders, Richard Florida, and Austin’s own, Bill Bishop, are noticing the same phenomenon with creatives. Bottom line is that a lot of influential, talented, ground-breaking people no longer see the United States as being on the cutting edge of R&D, science, technology, and idea-driven progress. Who will take their place?