Can We Legislate More Smart People?

from the good-luck-with-that-plan dept

While it's a good thing that politicians are starting to recognize that the US education system isn't churning out science and engineering grads as well as other countries any more, it's not clear how they can fix that by legislation. They're trying to create a new law that will help solve the issue, but it sounds like treating the symptoms rather than the problem. They're coming up with some very specific ways specifically designed to look at encouraging more students to go into scientific and engineering fields -- but that won't matter if the jobs aren't there or don't look appealing. The way to get more students to get these types of degrees is to make jobs in those fields look appealing, which means encouraging innovation, encouraging a "tinkering" culture and getting people excited about technology and science by letting them explore and learn -- not by locking them down under obsolete business models where only incumbents can thrive. Naming ten communities as "innovation hot spots" doesn't seem as likely to do the trick.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Michael Ward, 21 Jul 2005 @ 11:35am

    Encouraging science and engineering careers.

    Pay the scientists and engineers. Stop using them as layoff fodder. Stop making them work nights and weekends for free.

    If your mommy or daddy is an engineer, you know one thing: You're going to go to law school or get an MBA. You're not going to go through engineering school hell only to wind up on the street, with your job in India.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      dorpus, 21 Jul 2005 @ 12:56pm

      Re: Encouraging science and engineering careers.

      Or become a health professional, so that you can do ethical work, get respect, and make money too. There are people majoring in stuff like gerontology, a pretty lightweight topic from what I can tell, and they can expect to make truckloads of money after graduation. Jobs like that won't get outsourced easily, and there will be demand for American expertise in topics like that too -- Asian countries tend to be very backward on the social aspects of medicine.



      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Tim, 22 Jul 2005 @ 2:07am

    No Subject Given

    Hmmm, I'd say it feels like the products of last generation's bullies and drop-outs responding to "oh no we're thick".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    thecaptain, 22 Jul 2005 @ 4:51am

    sure we can legislate

    we need a license to drive, fish and hunt.

    Lets get a license to reproduce. The test would be general parenting knowledge and an IQ test...if we could figure out a common sense test, add that in too.

    in a few generations we would see:

    - less stupid lawsuits
    - less darwin awards
    - a reduction in occurence of 6 kids/welfare mom, deadbeat dad phenom
    - marketters would cease to exist as we know it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Grammar Man, 22 Jul 2005 @ 11:41pm

      Re: sure we can legislate

      Learn how to spell, type, or use spell check. You are the people we'd have to pass legislation against.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Bill, 28 Oct 2005 @ 10:43pm

      Re: sure we can legislate

      - less stupid lawsuits
      - less darwin awards
      - a reduction in occurence of 6 kids/welfare mom, deadbeat dad phenom
      - marketters would cease to exist as we know it.
      Not to mention graduates who can speak and write proper English:
      - fewer stupid lawsuits
      - fewer Darwin Awards
      - a reduction the the occurrence of the six kid / welfare mom / deadbeat dad phenomenon.
      - marketeers, as we know them, would cease to exist.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Bill, 28 Oct 2005 @ 10:45pm

      Re: sure we can legislate

      - less stupid lawsuits
      - less darwin awards
      - a reduction in occurence of 6 kids/welfare mom, deadbeat dad phenom
      - marketters would cease to exist as we know it.
      Not to mention graduates who can speak and write proper English:
      - fewer stupid lawsuits
      - fewer Darwin Awards
      - a reduction in the occurrence of the six kid / welfare mom / deadbeat dad phenomenon.
      - marketeers, as we know them, would cease to exist.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dave, 22 Jul 2005 @ 9:07am

    Can We Legislate More Smart People

    I think some of these new TV shows might encourage more science and engineering grads. Shows like Myth Busters show how cool and fun science can be.
    Dave

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jul 2005 @ 9:25am

    I'd like to point out a typo in the header

    It should read "Can We Legislate More Smarter People?"

    Nothing to be ashamed of, this site gets gooder all the time.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.