A world class economy depends on a highly educated technical workforce. In this interview with Dean Kamen, founder of First Robotics, Todd Sierer explores what’s wrong with our society.
Americans have no reason to believe that we will retain our global position, our quality of life, our standard of living, our security, unless we create the next generation of even more competitive scientists and technologists.
According to Dean Kamen, the average age of the engineers in the Apollo program in the 1960’s was in their 20’s. Now the average age of aerospace engineers is in their 50’s. These people will soon retire, taking with them an enormous brain trust that has been a foundation of American industrial success.
He says it’s not our education system that fails us, it’s our culture that values sports like baseball, football and basketball above academic success. He point out that the average child has a far greater likelihood of a successful career in engineering than they do of ever making a nickel playing pro sports.