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Study Says US Needs Fewer Science Students

Posted by samzenpus on from the too-many-coats-in-the-lab dept.

cremeglace writes "It's an article of faith: the United States needs more native-born students in science and other technical fields. But a new paper by sociologists at the Urban Institute and Rutgers University contradicts the notion of a shrinking supply of native-born talent in the United States. In fact, the supply has actually remained steady over the past 30 years, the researchers conclude, while the highest-performing students in the pipeline are opting out of science and engineering in greater numbers than in the past, suggesting that the threat to American economic competitiveness comes not from inadequate science training in school and college but from a lack of incentives that would make science and technology careers attractive. Cranking out even more science graduates, according to the researchers, does not give corporations any incentive to boost wages for science/tech jobs, which would be one way to retain the highest-performing students."

6 of 551 comments (clear)

  1. More articles like this please by Idayen · · Score: 5, Funny

    I want my salary to go up

  2. So says the sociologists... by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 5, Funny

    So... the sociologists say there's too many technical scientists? That's just what I'd expect from those namby-pamby girly-haired soft-science types! I'll bet they've got a correlation study and everything. Well, maybe the technical scientists say there are too many sociologists? And we've got freaky equations and stuff.

    Yeah!

    Who you going to believe, pretty demographics charts or complicated equations? Eh? EH?

    --
    Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
    altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
  3. Re:As Rutherford said... by moosesocks · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ernest Rutherford once said The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don't

    Oddly enough, quantum mechanics draws pretty much the exact same conclusion.

    *Ducks*

    --
    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
  4. Re:Stupd rationale by blueg3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't imposing your opinion on how they should pay employees, rather than letting employers set wages as they see fit, rather anti-Free Market?

  5. Re:how many scientists are enough? by Sparky+McGruff · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's totally useless. What we really need to know is how to package lots of bad loans into a derivative and make it worth a fortune. That and how to hide a CEO's income from the IRS. This science stuff just pollutes the mind, and distracts us from putting more money into another Wall Street shell game.

  6. And what's this? by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 4, Funny

    Holy shit... I just had the best f*cking cage match idea ever.

    I see we have a business major chiming in.