Study Sees U.S. as Competitive in Math and Science

Business leaders and politicians in the United States could be scaring away high school students from pursuing mathematics and science careers by focusing the spotlight on the large numbers of engineers produced by India and China and the loss of U.S. jobs to outsourcing, the author of a new report says.

The report from Duke University in Durham, N.C., says the United States produced 70,000 engineers in 2004, compared with China, which, in the same year, produced 600,000, and India, which produced 350,000. Even though the total numbers are larger for China and India, the United States actually produces more engineers per capita than both those countries, the report points out.

“But when all the politicians and everyone else is going around saying it will be 70,000 of us against 1 million from China and India, any smart high school student would question why should I get into engineering when my job is going to be outsourced?” said Vivek Wadhwa, a co-author of the study and an adjunct professor at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “We are scaring children away from doing exactly what we want...