The Quiet Crisis: From the American Perspective

About The World is Flat
http://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-3-0-History-Twenty-first/dp/0312425074

About Thomas L. Friedman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman
http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/

On his new book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqe9xIA_zM

How do you compare this piece of writing with the one on the "smart power" of China?

The "smart power" piece: The smartness of China in terms of foreign policies, from an Asian's perspective

"The quiet crisis": The weaknesses of the U.S. in terms of competitiveness, from an American's perspective

Friedman's view has received attention from a large number of Americans since 2005.

Reflections on education and immigration policy.

The Tiger Mom controversy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Hymn_of_the_Tiger_Mother

Stress management among children
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/magazine/why-can-some-kids-handle-pressure-while-others-fall-apart.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Criticism:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/6855:the-emperors-messenger-has-no-clothes-bel%C3%A9n-fern%C3%A1ndez-dresses-down-thomas-friedman

The Quiet Crisis

While I do agree that some progress has been made since this was written, I have to agree that the U.S. is beginning to lag behind in science and math education. But with everything that the government could do to relieve the U.S. of this "quiet crisis" such as donate money or start programs, I think that a huge part of this effort lies heavily on the shoulders of America's public school teachers. Elementary teachers spend more time with children than anyone (other than their parents) and have a tremendous effect on the attitudes of generations of children. I could not relate more to Meleena's memory of hearing "what am I ever going to use this for in real life?" in regards to math and science classes. And when I think of it, not one of my teachers ever backed up their end. It seemed like they were just there to teach, simply because math and science have always been taught in public school, and not because math and science are currently the most critical classes in regards to America's future. Of course, it is difficult to make children understand the concept that if they work hard at math and science, they could have an enormous impact on our standing in global society.

I would also like to point out that, though increasing numbers of foreign (mostly Asian) entrepreneurs are still coming to America to start their companies. I think that until the majority of Americans start going oversees on entrepreneurial ventures, the power shift won't happen. I think we still have time to turn this around, but I do agree that something needs to be done.

Possibly, Americans are getting too comfortable "at the top", but what other countries think of as "leisurely activities" we think of as inherently American pastimes. The idea of America (currently) is built around leisure, rather than work. I don't think America has an intelligence problem, I think we have a motivational problem. I think that as long as we are aware of our economic competitors, we will take the actions necessary to stay at the top.

The World is Flat

Although this article might be a little outdated, some of the points still hold a lot of truth. I believe that America is a good thing that has created a lot of bad things. This article highlights the decline of American students interested in and pursuing science and engineering degrees; it also highlights America's culture which is now geared towards having fun, watching television, and making money. Many Americans want a job that they can enjoy; they want to be creative, but not in a science or engineering sense, they want to be creative in their own sense, have fun, and make money at the same time. America gave their citizens the freedom to define themselves how they please, although it is somewhat limited to the culture that surrounds them, so America also has to deal with the fact that its students are not defining themselves with science and engineering careers (although the future success of the country is up to the citizens.)

This also brings up the crisis in the education system. It could be said that the nation is now aware that it's education system is lacking, but how much can change in a country that doesn't know how to embrace change? The Texas standardized test change from TAKS to STAAR stirred up so much controversy amongst the education agency, teachers, parents and students. I wrote an article on this topic in the midst of the decision-making, and most of the parents were concerned because the test was going to be tougher than the TAKS and and they feared their child would not pass. Although changes in testing and curriculum need to be accompanied by changing teaching method, these controversies over small changes are only foreshadowing the anger that will come with a national change, if one is made.

In the article, Eric Stern touches on students' disinterest in sciences and maths. From my own education experience, an almost daily phrase I heard in middle and high school, in regard to math and science classes, was "I am never going to use this in real life." I'm not sure what we all thought "real life" was, but it certainly didn't include any consideration of science and engineering careers.

The Quiet Crisis

I think we've made some progress from when this essay was written to now. The essay mentions how "we should be concerned about the gaps in our education, infrastructure, and ambitions that threaten to weaken us from within" and over the past several years, I feel there has been a focus on these things. Political leaders have turned their eyes to the education of their country's youth, we're learning about how other countries view ours and our ambitions, drawing our own conclusions from what we can gather... The essay feels a little out-dated.

Creativity vs Rote Learning - Are they really all that different?

I understand that the world views the people of each group differently, at least. We each seem to have a reputation that follows us around.

Quiet Crisis

The lede anecdote of this story being so out of date — the United States Olympic basketball team has won two consecutive gold medals to go with a FIBA World Championship in 2010 — threw me off, I will admit. However, I do understand the crisis Shirley Jackson spoke of in 2004, and how Americans want to be at the forefront of technological advancements.

I have to ask, though: how many of us have a Sony product? Samsung? It strikes me as funny sometimes we're so obsessed with being the "best" that we overlook how we benefit from the technology of other nations, and vice versa.

Falling behind in science

In terms of the American lifestyle, we have gotten very comfortable with our lifestyles, yet we complain that we don’t have the latest products and that we work too much. You always hear stories from grandparents and how they struggled and had to work hard and live with the basics…and most of their work was manual labor. However most of us are still living off of our parents and probably will be for a couple of more years. We don’t like manual labor like skilled jobs and we don’t like to pursue demanding educational jobs either. We like the middle range, but we want to reap the benefits of wealth.

We need to update our education system, and this needs to start at the elementary levels. But, this is something the levels of government need to enforce. In addition, it starts with the family. Parents need to be stricter with their children. Kids these days are way too spoiled. I’m not comfortable with the idea of giving young kids ipads to play with because most of the time I see them playing pointless games. Kids demand something and the parents give it to them. For holidays and birthdays, relatives give children toys and toys, whereas there should be more toys that are at least educating.

The author mentions several times how in mid-20^th century, we, as a country, had dreams, goals and role models. We don’t have these anymore except get rich quick via the internet. It seems like once we landed on the moon, we were like well that fantasy is now reality and so imagination ceased. The author made a good point in saying that Chinese worship Bill Gates like he was Britney Spears, and in America, we worship Britney Spears because she’s Britney Spears. We spend more time and energy on educating ourselves on figures like Kim Kardashian and Tony Parker.

At the same time, I wonder what effects these social pressures are having on individuals in Asia. For example, my roommate is from India, and she is constantly being lectured on how she is not pursuing a medical or engineering career field. She always is beating herself up about it as well. In this sense, I am glad that I am not pressured to pursue a field of study that I’m not interested in.