Chapter+8+TWIF

[|The World is Flat: CH 8 - The Quiet Crisis]

 * Analysis: Consider the following questions: **

// Do you agree with Friedman's points in the chapter? Why or why not? // I am in 100% agreement with Friedman’s points in Chapter 8: The Quiet Crisis. Being a science teacher, I am always thinking of ways to present the material in interesting ways. Unfortunately, by the time students reach my class, they are juniors and seniors who have already been through more than ten years of science classes they thought were boring, too difficult, and [sadly] “irrelevant.” This has become a huge problem in our country and is evidenced in the decreasing number of graduates with degrees in science and engineering. Friedman (2007) discusses the idea of "fun" playing a huge role in students deciding whether or not they will persue a particular major--that and the amount of money they could possibly make when working in the field. Choosing a future in science means choosing a path that requires hard work, hours devoted to studying, and possibly a lower salary. Majors like this are not glamorous to many, so they are not as readily chosen. Unfortunately for Americans, they are very glamorous in other countries. Americans have become complacent. Although we are extremely interested in having the newest technology, we are less interested in inventing it ourselves--that is way too difficult and takes more effort than we are willing to put forth. This comes directly from a lack of funding and emphasis, as Friedman explains, in science, technology, and arts in schools, and from the way we view ourselves as a country--we can still be in first place even if we are standing still. I have seen many examples of a lack of work ethic from students, and most of their parents are enablers. Not only will parents complain if the course work seems too difficult, but they make it more and more difficult to hold students accountable for putting forth an effort that truly makes them deserving of passing their classes. Friedman (2007) views the collective issues of lack of science funding, poor work ethic, low scientific literacy of Americans, decreasing numbers of graduates in fields of science and engineering, and the rising numbers of out-sourced jobs and graduates in science and engineering majors in other countries as a “quiet crisis.” He explains that we may not see this perfect storm approaching, but once it hits, we are in big trouble. We have gone from being a country that was rooted in hard-work, with parents encouraging their children to be better-educated and have better jobs then they did, to a country that is quite content with watching television instead of studying. We find humor in the fact that many adults are not “Smarter than a fifth-grader,” and our government has taken no issue with putting science and engineering on the back burner. While Japan, China and India are working overtime to out-compete other countries in the science, engineering and tech. fields, Americans are living under false pretences that we will remain on top without putting forth any further efforts to improve our education system, spark an interest in science in young minds, or improve our work ethics.

// What are some potential consequences (positive or negative) in the next 10 years if what he says is true? // If we do not change our ways, we will be dominated by other countries that will have surpassed our accomplishments through determination and hard work. Right now we are out-sourcing jobs for less, but, according to Friedman, we are also getting higher productivity from workers in other countries. If this continues to be the case, it will not just be the telemarketing jobs and lower level tech jobs that are out-sourced. Soon the Yahoos and Googles may just pick up and move to countries where they can hire people that will work hard without vacation and personal days! Friedman warns that we are in for a rude awakening if we do not put our noses back to the grindstone and start turning out more highly-motivated graduates who are dedicated to hard work with futures in science and engineering. Unfortunately, we have to begin to educate these students better in elementary school, so our hopes for graduating more science and engineering students is at least ten years away, and that is if we change our ways immediately!

// How do you suppose his points affect us as educators? How about our students? School in general? // It is our responsibility as educators to reevaluate the content that we are teaching in terms of the demands of future. If the future is an internet-driven, technology-based one, than it is our job to become knowledgeable in these areas so we can help our students understand the options they will have when they get out into the real world. It is also important as educators to provide a sound foundation of content knowledge to our students. Without strong skills in math, science, reading, writing and arts, how will our students be able to compete with individuals who are strong in those areas? Students should be encouraged to understand that a strong education, when coupled with a creative mind, can lead to more open doors in life. If we do not have high expectations for ourselves as educators, our educational system and the students who pass through it, we will see a future of low paying jobs for the students of today. ~Sara Schechter

=**The World is Flat...Chapter 8: The Quiet Crisis summary:**= “The truth is, we’re in a crisis now, but it is a crisis that is unfolding very quietly. We’re a bit like a person who is sleeping on an air mattress, and the air is slowly moving out-so slowly you barely feel it, until you head hits the cement. By then, it’s really hard to reinflate the mattress” (Friedman P340). The quiet crisis is a very interesting chapter that discusses the science crisis that America is going through right now. The chapter starts with talking about younger generations that don’t appreciate the hard work that their ancestors been through to build their future and how by the time we reach a third generation the wealth is wasted and sit back and relax thinking that they don’t have to do anything anymore. In the beginning of the chapter the author gives an interesting example of the US Olympic Basket ball team from the 80s when they were at the top with almost no completion from any other country to the point that they used to send the college players rather than the NBA pros to 2004 when the team, which was made up of NBA stars went home with a bronze after losing to Argentina, Puerto Rico and Lithuania. The world has learned from us and caught on to our level in many ways, when at the same time America didn’t keep up with the change and forgot why they were on top in the first place. The author mentions many times that generations now think they can get rich, strong or even just better at anything without putting in hard work. After we faced the 9/11 crisis we should’ve paid more attentions to the problems we have in our education or science future or energy but the government focused so much on the Money and economy. Then throughout the chapter he interviews several scientists, engineers and educators from America and around the world to address the science crisis in the US today, as well as the future of science compared to our biggest competitors India and China. Shirley Ann Jackson is the first African American woman to have a PhD from MIT in the field of physics. She was inspired by Kennedy’s speech about putting a man on the moon. During that time science was a priority, the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik and the government wanted to gear their future generation towards the field of science and engineering. As a consequence of this America had a boom in the field of science with so many scientists, inventors, engineers and discoveries that separated America and put us on the top. Now the numbers of Americans pursing science are declining. NASA conducted a research on the employees they have and found that nearly 40% of them are age 50 or older. The amount of scientists that retired or retiring within the next ten year are not balancing out with amount of students who are pursing science majors and graduating. Even though American universities have the best science programs but most of the students that are graduating with science and engineering degrees are foreign students from Russia, India, China and many more. The work Ethics, productivity and discipline that Indian and Chinese students have, are causing them to excel and successes far from Americans. One of the letters that was sent from a teacher at a school in Washington comparing Immigrant parents to Americans mentioned that Immigrant parents complain that the science and math curriculum in our schools are not challenging enough for their kids and their kids are breezing through high school material because they already covered it in 4th or 5th grade in their countries. On the other hand American parents compare that their kids get too much homework and projects, which doesn’t allow them to live as a kid and takes time away from sports, hanging out and video games. The younger generations are not stepping up and filling the gap between the retirees and newly hired in science and math. Indian and Chinese now have the option to go back to their countries and apply what they’ve learned here and they’re not bound to stay here as in the past because of lack of resources or labs or materials that would hinder any scientist from conducting research. More and more American students every year and specially the smart kids are choosing business and finance for the obvious reason of a better income when they start working, which is far more competitive than what would a scientist make now. The chapter also highlights that we are diverting away from the basic foundations in math and science in our education system. Bill gates comments on this issue by saying that he personally never met a successful software engineer that didn’t know basic operations like memorizing multiplication tables. In order to promote creativity in schools we need to promote rote learning as well. “The young Chinese, Indians and poles are not racing us to the bottom. They are racing us to the top. They do not want to work for us; they don’t even want to be us. “They want to dominate us-in the sense that they want to be creating companies of the future” (Friedman, P365), a Very powerful statement, which explains the level of competition that we’re on. Towards the end of the chapter the author interviews Wu Qidi, who is China’s vice minister of education and she stresses on the fact that China now is focusing on creative thinking and entrepreneurship. Since they are at the highest population in the world and their students master the foundations in science and math, they want to take the next step of imagining and creating the next new big thing as the author mentions. Specially, now with more Chinese studying abroad and gaining more experience and better training. Microsoft has opened a research center in Beijing in the past 5 years, which has already topped all of the other Microsoft researching companies including America and it has become of the top companies to seek employment in China. Students race to work voluntarily in the research center and dedicate as much as 18 hours a day and put in hours during holidays as well to learn so much and get recommendation letters to MIT and Stanford. In 2004 the council on competitiveness held a summit with the top technologists and industrialists in the country to improve America’s idea of competing in research, education and innovation. They released a report afterward that was instantly borrowed by the Chinese and translated in order to be used in developing a creative plan. In the same time, the government ignored that summit as the president was next door to discussing privatizing social security. In conclusion, it looks like the science crisis has to wait and not a priority at this time. //**Ahmed Hassanein**//