Do We Need a New Sputnik?

Op-Ed columnist Thomas E. Friedman (2010, January 17) in his article, “What’s Our Sputnik?” has a very strong position on the things he would like to see happening in the United States economy and in reference to education in the states. I have to say that I was pretty shocked at how bold he was in his claims. Yet, I also found it refreshing that he should be so clear in his thoughts about reform.



I think that we have a bigger issue here than we would like to think since science education is not the sort of thing that gives instant gratification. Science work can very well be hard work! I believe that many people like jobs where they are creating video games or playing video games in order to check for glitches. That type of technology training spawns many a volunteer. However the gross, meticulous, time consuming stuff like investigating what caused a pond full of organisms to all die out is something that even shows like "Bones" show scientists to be odd if they enjoy, perhaps even "off of their rockers". Also, since so many of the scientists that got their catalyst from events like Sputnik and are therefore at the age where they can retire should they so chose, it would seem to make it difficult for students to see that career choice as much different from choosing to join a knitting group with their grandma. "Nice" maybe, but not "cool". So, we need a facelift in the science field.

Sputnik brought about a surge of desire that was natural. We had to be better and we had to be better because we did not trust those who were ahead of us. It was a need to feel safe in a survival mode setting. Do we need that again? Well, I think that whether we need it again or not, we certainly should not be sitting around hoping and waiting for it to happen because I do not see such a thing coming around in the near future. Countries do not act the same way. Like Friedman wrote, why threaten to bury us when they can do so much more damage by bankrupting us?(p.1)



No, rather than waiting, we need to see that there is already a threat of extinction that comes through our co-investor in the United States, China. No, there is no obvious and severe threat the China will try to overtake us and force communism down our throats, but even now I see little promise that we can keep up with China and keep our economic strong hold for long. It looks inevitable that China will be the next economic leader and will set the tone for what they want the rest of the world to be able to do in these fields.

But, how can we try our best to stay viable? I think that Friedman has a great point. We have to stop spending so much of our money, time and energy trying to fix all the other nations! I think that we need to invest a good amount of our time and energy on engaging our own people, young and old, in learning more about STEM related fields and doing it in such as way that the information is valuable to them. So often Americans are surrounded by lectures about things. "Well, you should really not drink this, it is so bad for you...well you really SHOULD drink this, it is really good for you..." But, the chemical "details" behind it, the logical reasoning or science methods used to reach that conclusion are not shared. So, faulty pseudosciences has caused many a person to just stop listening and to have no greater understanding or impact in their health than they did before. I believe we need to be more willing to teach people and less trying to force them to act or be a certain way. Let them take ownership of their own knowledge and stop acting like you have the corner on what they have to do.



Friedman, T. L. (2010, January 17). What’s our sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8.