What's Our Sputnik?

Thomas Friedman's article, What's Our Sputnik?, includes some very harsh statements.  However, I can't say that I disagree with most of his points about the future of our country.  The tone of his article makes the United States seem like a nosy big brother who can not let his younger brother stand on his own.  We are spending too much time, money and resources worrying about other countries.  Meanwhile, our own country is falling behind in critical areas.

Friedman points out that we need a spark similar to Sputnik in the 1950s to get our country motivated.  He states, "Nevertheless, I hope Americans see China's rise as the 21st century equivalent of Russia launching the Sputnik satellite--a challenge to which we responded with a huge national effort that revived our education, infrastructure and science and propelled use for 50 years" (Friedman, 2010).  As a society, we need some sort of Sputnik-like spark to light a fire under this country.  We have more technology in our cellular phones, than the entire space ship carrying Neil Armstrong to the moon contained.  Yet, we remain complacent when it comes to STEM education.  However, waiting on this event to come could be disastrous as we fall farther behind each day.  It is our responsibility as citizens of this country to bring the passion and honor back to the field of science.  We have to find a way to get our young people interested by science.  Actions must be taken at all levels; national, state and local; to bring science education back to the forefront of importance in this country. 

Other countries, such as Taiwan, are emerging on the forefront of science through hard work.  Taiwan, despite having no natural resources, has "amasses the fourth-largest foreign currency reserves in the world" (Friedman, 2010).  We need to bring this work ethic and passion back to the United States.  We have the intelligence and opportunity in this country to once again be the scientific world powerhouse.  However, we have to be willing to put forth the effort to achieve this goal.

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