Priority Interrupt by Steve Ciarcia Domestic Reality in the Global Community

I don’t have to look very far to know that America is part of a global community. Yes, like many of you, I wake up and switch on my Korean TV, put on clothes made everywhere but the U.S., have toast and coffee made by Chinese-manufactured appliances, drive to the office in a German car, sit at a desk made in Denmark, and switch on a Japanese computer (made in Malaysia). Well, at least I used an American stove to cook my eggs.

The saving grace from the realization that virtually every product Americans buy these days is foreign made—increasingly in China—is the belief that the U.S. is still the source of all the really cutting-edge science and technology. All of us fancy letting low-wage countries beat each other up to produce the dirt-cheap DVRs we buy at Wal-Mart as long as there is still a skyscraper full of high-paid American white-collar workers who continue owning, managing, and leasing the satellite technology that feed these boxes. Essentially, the common perception is that America has merely moved higher up on the food chain when it comes to science and technology.

The U.S. is presently in jeopardy of losing its preeminent position as the world’s technology leader for a reason that most people would never understand: not enough foreigners. The dirty little secret about American ingenuity is that, while the latest and greatest laser technology may be coming from MIT and revolutionary encryption techniques from Caltech, little of it is done by indigenous Americans. The left-wing cultural swing in American high schools over the last 30 years has helped our youngsters feel warm and fuzzy with lots of self-esteem, but this politically correct system has significantly dumbed-down our schools. Social subjects now dominate so much of the curricula that students aren’t prepared with the math and science skills they need to compete in college or the world engineering community. Today, American colleges and universities graduate far fewer engineers than they did 30 or 40 years ago.

The primary way colleges and universities have remained prolific centers of inventions and ideas, despite the increasing lack of local genius, is that the U.S. has been a magnet for worldwide talent. Consequently, there was always a significant number of smart foreign nationals studying at American colleges. Americans are used to thinking of the U.S. as the world’s melting pot, but I’m sure they don’t realize that, according to the National Science Board (NSB), fully 38% of the doctorate holders in science and technology in the American workforce are foreign-born, and the majorities of the staffs and student bodies at a significant number of U.S. engineering schools are composed of foreigners. It may sound trite, but I for one absolutely recognize that much of what we like to call American ingenuity has been built by the foreign-born scientists and engineers who have come here during the last few decades.

Understanding the benefits of this internationally supported domestic education/invention mill is one thing. Keeping it going in a dynamically changing world is another. The Internet has made the world seem a smaller place, but location still matters. If all these foreign scientists and graduate students are to keep grinding out ideas at American companies and universities, they have to be here. The unfortunate reality of the changes in American border policy since 9/11 is that an open educational exchange has been replaced with a frustrating exercise in U.S. visa acquisition. As a result, significantly fewer foreign students are applying to U.S. colleges and universities this year, and significantly fewer engineers and computer scientists will graduate in the years to come.

Ultra-nationalists would simply say, “good riddance,” but that just means they don’t understand the greater long-term effects. Countries like India, China, and others have filled in the gap for us over the years because their best people have regarded our universities and scientific institutions as more appealing than theirs. However, the changing economies of these countries along with improving technical infrastructures may ultimately mean that staying home or going to a country other than the U.S. is the best choice for these people. Unless we can find a way to balance the security needs of a country under attack with the indispensable benefit of being a destination for the world’s technical elite, we could find ourselves on the short end of the stick with a declining economy.

I mention the reality of U.S. technical creativity because it is often overlooked in all the nationalistic fervor. Fortunately, the larger engineering community in India, China, and other places helps Circuit Cellar in the long run. A typical magazine issue has half or more of the articles written by non-U.S. authors. Plus, statistics indicate that more than half of our web traffic is international. Our contests are mostly international; sixty percent of the sample distribution and prize money goes to non-U.S. residents. Finally, there is that one very real consolation. Circuit Cellar’s dirty little secret is that we are an international resource that doesn’t require being here to enjoy.