

Best US students opt-out of sci/tech as ranks swell - teeja
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/10/study-argues-us.html

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philk
I can't help but think that we'd be better off if the "financial engineering"
field was was regulated back to a much smaller segment of the economy.

I'm not normally a fan of government intervention but we've wound up requiring
massive amounts of it anyway. At least if the top talent was producing
tangible things we'd have something more to show for it than an ever larger
deficit.

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fnid
It probably makes sense for the government, or any organization for that
matter, to regulate the behavior of other organizations it is responsible to
bailout if their behavior gets out of control.

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geebee
I tend to agree that low interest in science and engineering is driven by a
rational response to market conditions - that talented people can do better in
other fields.

However, I am confused about one thing...

"Susan Traiman of the Business Roundtable criticizes the new study, saying
that it gives an illusion of a robust supply because it bundles all STEM
fields together. There may be an oversupply in the life sciences and social
sciences, she argues, but there is no question that there are shortages in
engineering and the physical sciences"

I'd need to read more about this study. Are social science majors included in
the STEM numbers? Are botany majors included? If so, this would weaken the
claim that we are overproducing "STEM" workers.

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robotron
The headline of the article has changed to "Study Suggests U.S. Could Use
Fewer, Not More Science Students"

