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U.S. Cenusu Bureau
Amid all the chatter recently about whether President Barack Obama is a “snob” for wanting Americans to be educated or Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorumis anti-education for critizing Obama, many may have missed an important milestone.
The Census Bureau reported last week that a record 30 percent of Americans ages 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree. The data, from March 2011, marks first time ever that such high a proportion of Americans have had at least a four-year degree, and it follows decades of gradually improving higher education rates.
In the long term, experts say, that’s good news for the U.S. economy. After all, the majority of the U.S. economy is service-oriented, and that means many Americans who want to get ahead need to find ways to succeed in white-collar settings. Many also believe a highly educated, innovative workforce is one of several key ingredients succeeding against global competitors.
“The future of the U.S. economy is not assembling the computer. The future of the U.S. economy is coming up with a novel design for a semiconductor that gets into a computer, that will then be assembled in some emerging economy,” said Adolfo Laurenti, deputy chief economist with Mesirow Financial.
And yet, such long-term thinking may not feel so great to the many Americans out there who have a degree but either don’t have the job they want – or don’t have a job at all.
The unemployment rate for college graduates, which stood at 4.2 percent in February, is half the unemployment rate for high school grads but still high by historical norms. Also, although a college degree also generally leads to much higher lifelong earnings, many young grads in particular are feeling squeezed these days by low starting salaries.
“(There are) people who are very disappointed that, yes, they can get a white-collar job but that does not imply the financial success that it used to imply for their father’s generation,” Laurenti said.
In addition, many are burdened by student loan debt from earning that degree.
Another issue that has slowly been gaining attention over the past few years is whether every kid should be aiming to go to college. Manufacturers in particular are increasingly complaining that they can’t find skilled workers to run the more complex, sophisticated factories that are now the norm in America.
These people are calling for a return to the type of vocational training that fell out of favor over the past few decades, amid a push to get more kids to go to college.
Laurenti, the economist, said he is tentatively encouraged by more discussion about how to provide that kind of training to keep those types of factories running. But he thinks high schools need to be doing more to help prepare kids who would do well in those type of skilled factory jobs.
“They are not much interested in people with a bachelor’s degree in political science, but it’s not enough to get people who drop out of high school, either,” he said.
Related:
Role reversal: Employers say they can't find workers
The majors with the best job prospects
Leave a Comment:
This must mean more Americans are "snobs" I bet this makes Frothy want to "throw up".
Knowledge is power, that's why we can never win in Afghanistan.
Stop picking on Rick, he has issues and the education to prove it :-)
If he's so educated and intelligent, why does he continue to alienate women and non-religious people in his campaign?
Is he or the Pope more educated?
Doesnt mean anything. Degree programs are so watered down now, that they're practically like high school all over again. I work with an office full of new grads and they're all snobby morons, who don't know a thing. Experience and older degrees win out.
nice avatar Cynus_X-1
+1
What a bunch of snobs!
when a large % of college graduates do not even know when the civil war was fought, no nothing about ww 1, do not know who we were at war with in ww 2; know nothing about the Constitution; more education does not mean better educated.
why are you so Elitist? wouldn't you rather be a christian and not understand how magnets work?
My biggest beef with our "system" is that employers want 4 year degree holders rather than technical certificates or trade school grads. Universities are benefiting greatly from this and as long as they keep pumping out more and more grads employers will demand college degrees because. It's a catch 22.
Availability of education is not congruent with overall knowledge.
More of us are better educated now.
Too bad more of us aren't smarter.
THIS IS NOT SAYING MUCH!
What a joke.
History, American or otherwise, is not paid much attention to in k-12. And what benefit would kids find in pursuing it - there is no inducement for them to care or bother - unless they care a grumpy old person is rolling their eyes about it.
Employers don't care how much history they know. The "kids" have paid, or their parents, as much as (if not more than) $100 grand for this "job ticket".
The days of seeking a "classical education", and learning for the sake of learning - poof, it's gone. Today, it's all about getting a job ticket. I can't blame the kids one bit for that one.
Cassandra - you can "learn for the sake of learning" all you want. Just don't take out a $120k loan to do it, because if such learning is not going to make you any more attractive to employers (who need actual skills, not knowledge of history), and thus you don't expect to earn a higher salary from which this loan can be repaid, then it is no one's fault but your own when you fall deeply into debt.
"Learning for the sake of learning" versus "learning for the sake of making a living" is analogous to luxury cars versus economy cars when it comes to personal finance - you need a car to get to work and earn income, and if you can't afford one, then it is perfectly acceptable to take out a loan to finance it, provided it is an economy car, because the income you can then earn will allow you to repay the loan. But if you instead want a luxury car, then the loan is inappropriate, because your salary will not be any higher than it would with the economy car, and so you are not in any better a position to make the much larger loan payments.
It's the classic trade-off between investment and consumption, which everyone must face. You can invest in your future with a meaningful, job-oriented education, or you can consume your time and money to learn for the sake of learning. It's your choice.
the data in the article doesn't match the article's title. The data shows that people have more degrees, not that they are more educated. Most that I see coming into the workplace from getting their degree are as educated as turnips. (Not to insult turnips). But they have a degree. Go figure.
Reminds me of the old joke about an engineer, an accountant, and liberal arts major. All were speaking of a certain widget. The engineer ponders how it is made and the manufacturing techniques involved, the accountant ponders the cost vs profit, and the liberal arts major ponders "do you want fries with that?" So much for a bunch of useless degrees, that is what most of these people are getting.
And in related news, more Americans are deeper in education debt than ever before...
Smart and common sense are definitely two different things !
You can invest in your future with a meaningful, job-oriented education, or you can consume your time and money to learn for the sake of learning.
Yeah why would anyone want to learn about anything outside of their intended career path. *rolls eyes." We need a populace who is informed about history, government, science, etc. These subjects are far more meaningful than an education based solely on getting a job. Americans have this career obsessive mentality that has been beat into our skulls since elementary school. Until we have a population of critical thinkers who have knowledge of a vast array of subjects this country will fall further and further behind.
You completely missed the point of my post, Satanick. I never said there was anything wrong with learning the liberal arts. Just don't expect that knowledge to raise your job prospects in this day and age, and so taking out enormous student loans for such an education is financially an poor decision. College is suppose to be an investment in your future, i.e. generate future returns through better paying jobs, but the education you are describing would be better classified as consumption - it merely consumes current resources, with little or no future return.
I myself am extremely interested in learning about a broad variety of topics, far from my chosen career path. And to do so, I read books. Much cheaper than four years of college.
with little or no future return.
That is the point I took away from your first post. That is where you are wrong. Having an informed populace has returns that cannot truly be economically measured. You say it is an investment in one's future, I say it is an investment in the country's future.
What returns, Satanick? How does a population trained in "American Studies," "Communication," "English Literature," or "Religion" grow the food that we need to survive, or build the houses that we need for shelter, or design the engines that we need for transportation, or manufacture the computers that we have become so reliant on, or put satellites in space to allow us to communicate, or create the medicines that we need to remain healthy? I applaud your idealism, but sooner or later you will have to come back to reality, where there are real needs that must constantly be met, and a significant amount of training that must be undertaken in order for society to continue to meet these needs. These are the returns of which I speak - to the individual, it might only look like a higher salary, but that higher salary is representative of the very real value that is added to peoples lives through the development and application of these skills.
There is a place for the arts in society, I don't deny that. But the very fact that an education in the liberal arts today will rarely yield attractive job prospects is an indication that for now, society's needs lie elsewhere - in engineering, medicine, and technology, for instance.
One point of clarification - you mentioned science in your original post. I have no problem with an education in the natural or physical sciences, or even such social sciences as economics. My problem is with the degree programs that could be otherwise described as "majoring in college," such as those listed above.
An interesting question to ask is: Is there any correlation between the college-degree rate and the strength of the two political parties in the states?
I compared different state's college-degree rate (CDR) data for 1996 with the results of the 1996 presidential election for each state. (See table at end for votes in the 1996 election.) A correlation calculation yielded the following:
Correlation
Rate
Democrat vote
+0.223
Republican vote
-0.265
That is, the Democratic votes for the states had a 22% positive correlation with increasing CDR and the Republican votes had a 27% negative correlation. States with high college-degree rate vote more Democratic than Republican and vice versa.
And I work in a field that people can only have a high school education to do. However all the college educated kids can't even change the headlight bulb in their car with out messing it up. we just had a mechanical engineer change his brake light and fried all the lights on the left side of his car.
Looking at the chart, maybe I'm wrong, but I see a steady rise since 1947. This is a truly amazing revelation as we were just told six months ago we were the dumbest on the planet compared to other developed nations. And that student debt out paced the jobs available for those graduates. Maybe the perspective is not constant. Sometimes the profit is not in the bushel of corn, but in the boxes of cornflakes (which we no longer do).
@Feckineejit -- Yaaaawn.....The magnetic force does no work, and therefore, magnets do not "work"...To understand the physics of a magnetic requires more quantum mechanics than most possess, Christian or otherwise.
It doesn't compare our growth with the growth of the other countries who are kicking our butts. And it also doesn't show the 50%+ of recent graduates who can't find a job or are working for less than what a high school graduate would have been making a generation ago when adjusted for inflation.
Uh-Oh...bad news for the republicans. They need a ignorant, uneducated populace.
Bad news for the world's religions as well, who rely on the same populace to maintain their cash flow.
Is that why those without a high school diploma vote heavily Democratic?
"Cygnus_X-1
Doesnt mean anything. Degree programs are so watered down now, that they're practically like high school all over again. I work with an office full of new grads and they're all snobby morons, who don't know a thing. Experience and older degrees win out."
As a University Grad (State not for profit) I wouldn't say that they are watered down. What I WOULD say is they are structured poorly. The majority of my classes were simply (Memorize, regurgitate, forget.) Universities should train students brains to think and to solve problems analitically. I encountered very little of this.
YOU have got to be KIDDING ME!!!!! The Democratic plantation knows how to keep their people ignorant and uninformed.
I have no love for either the democrat or the republican political parties, they are both equally corrupt. If the dems could get rid of their idiotic social programs and the repubs could drop the fallacy of religion, then maybe they'd have at least SOMETHING going for them.
Are these meant to be examples of the fact that a degree does not guarantee critical thinking skills?
C'mon people!
Actually, the Democrats are the ones that recruit the uneducated. There are reams of proof of that.
That set aside, we may be more educated, but I see no evidence that we are smarter than our forefathers and foremothers. In fact, it's seems we behave more and more stupidly.
Links.
Blue...
Really ? In the 2010 election for governor in Connecticut, the Democrat candidate won the job by about 6000 votes. In just the six poorest cities in this state, that same candidate won by 75,000 votes. A total of 1.3 million votes were cast for one candidate or the other.
Have all the "ignorant and uneducated populace" moved to the suburbs and all the "educated" people in Connecticut are now living in the state's poorest cities ???
Or is this just another example of liberal snobbery ?
@David5000, @somebefuddledperson
The blue states have HIGHER educational levels (not to mention higher pay) than the population in red states.
If you make a claim, you need to back it up with something. Or did they not teach you that in school? (And, no, getting your "education" from blogs is NOT education).
Hey David,
Maybe you need a little more education:
CNN.com - Elections 2006
VOTE BY EDUCATION
TOTAL Democrat Republican
No High School (3%)
Democrat 64%
Republican 35%
H.S. Graduate (21%)
Democrat 55%
Republican 44%
Some College (31%)
Democrat 51%
Republican 47%
College Graduate (27%)
Democrat 49%
Republican 49%
Postgraduate (18%)
Democrat 58%
Republican 41%
And in case you need it in pictures:
Democrats and Education, by State
Republicans and Education, by State
Don't believe everything you hear on FOX, David.
RealAmericansFirst - I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to make. Are you refuting or supporting David? Because David quite clearly stated:
those without a high school diploma vote heavily Democratic
And you just provided statistics that indicate 64% of voters without a high school diploma vote democratic. In fact, right up until postgraduates, the percent voting republican increases with the level of education.
And they only counted for 3% of the vote.
Real American, sorry... I don't watch Fox News. Please think of something a little more original. Secondly, you obviously misread my post and/or missed the point. Please read MT83's clarification.
MT83, thank you.
David...
It's typical on this site that those who believe that anyone who has a different opinion, MUST have been handed that opinion by "Fox News".....as if simply stating those two short words negates the value of any other opinion provided.
And of course, the folks that use the "Fox News" excuse never, ever tell anyone from what news sources their own opinions are developed. I guess one's source of obtaining 'news' is only important if that source happens to be 'Fox News'. Any other source is to be considered acceptable.
for profit "colleges" isn't an education.
aren't*
I can see you must have been absent that day.
TJ - Why do you think that? I've known people that have gone to both state (not for profit) and private (for profit) universities and colleges. The education offered seemed similar to me. For the record, I went to a state college. But, then again, I have learned considerably more since graduating. If I recall correctly, it was Twain that said, "Don't let schooling get in the way of a good education."
Has anyone been to their local DMV office or been called in for Jury duty? Americans might have a paper that says their educated but my God most Americans are just stupid.
Watch when a reporter goes out on the street and asks people to recognize a picture of some our country's greatest people. Most don't know especially the young. There being taught to sing songs prasing the Kenyan Boy King Obama, how to put a condom on, entitlement, understand when "Daddy loves Daddy". - Absolutely disgusting!
Thank a Liberal today for all the diploma'd idiots in this once great country!
You get out what you put in and many don't put in much.
There are not enough jobs for America's high school dropouts.
That's not true, there are plenty of jobs in agriculture, but it's hard work.
Quote: There are not enough jobs for America's high school dropouts
Yes there are... its called serving in the Imperial Legions!
@Jake Reyna
And it's for the coveted illegal immigrant standard of living.
The dropout rate, especially in inner city or deep rural areas needs to be addressed with more, and better, vocational programs. If schools could give kids who have zero intent of ever going to college a means to support themselves with a trade, and work-study programs for the poor kids - would be a step in the right direction.
Are there "not enough jobs for America's high school dropouts" or simply just way too many dropouts ??
Way too many people in general.
Agreed....both here and elsewhere on tis planet.
I find this article hard to believe with all the religious crap going on. How many polls have I seen that state a majority of Americans believe the "devil" exists and how many of these so called "educated" people couldn't pick out Germany on a map.
Snappa...What religious crap is going on, exactly? What kind of polls do you read to be so preoccupied with the devil? As an educated woman I know exactly where germany is as well as all the countries that emerged after the USSR broke up. As an educated woman.
I had a good laugh at the authors expense.... I suppose that she was some sort of High School Student who won a DNC article contest for some attempt to saway the hearts and minds of children. I would suppose the author should fail the assignment becaue the premise of her article actually supports what Santorum said. The reasonable path forward, and that is the only way the United States will prosper is if we educate the population to support a Country of more than 300,000,000. While the grandious line of thought comming from the left has sbeen everyone should get a colleged education they seem to have neglected those who have no aptitude for a Uiversity degree. However, there are many avenues that can be taken to still maintain a well trained and educated workforce through specialty training during or after High School. It is time we get back to suiting the needs of an individual toward a vocation that will meet their need to support them in the 21st centurary. Not everyone is suited to white collar work and Companies should not be legislated to make these positions available in an attempt to recycle workers. The unmentionable High school drop out rates that are actually staggering in this country... given that we, as a nation, provide a free and fair PK-12 education as a good faith investment into the children of America and their future. according to the US Department of Education the nations dropout rate has hit an incrediable low of 8.1% for 2009. Cudos to the US if these stats are real and the quality of education that those graduating is high. But,we still need to make jobs available for these 8.1% and without a strong agriculture sector or low skill job opportunities we are going to find our selves treading water to support a growing segment of unemoloyed.
It sounds really good to say that America is a Service Economy...Until our expots are few and our imports are great. We would no longer be just recycling our economy rather funnelling it out to end up with less to support an evergrowing growing population.
So to the Author....We need to grow our economy and jobs base across the spectrum. We need jobs for dropouts and high school graduate and if we had that many of that 30%, who have no real aptitude to hold that watered down College degree, would not be in debt and would have realistic expetations for their earning potential and skill set.
Ha.... Those jobs you speak of are being replaced by computers, machines and outsourcing. The old saying "the children are our future" should be changed to the educated children are our future.
People need to stop thinking only about the present. In 10-15yrs a majority of the commentators here wont even remember this article. Don't forget that China is gunning for the #1 spot. They intend to do by out smarting us.
WE MUST BEAT THEM ALL.
Remember, for every one college drop-out billionaire inventor(Gates, Zuckerbery, Jobs) there are thousands of college graduates that help pave the way for them (employees, parents and investors)
Ha.... Those jobs you speak of are being replaced by computers, machines and outsourcing. The old saying "the children are our future" should be changed to the educated children are our future.
People need to stop thinking only about the present. In 10-15yrs a majority of the commentators here wont even remember this article. Don't forget that China is gunning for the #1 spot. They intend to do by out smarting us.
WE MUST BEAT THEM ALL.
Remember, for every one college drop-out billionaire inventor(Gates, Zuckerbery, Jobs) there are thousands of college graduates that help pave the way for them (employees, parents and investors)
I agree with SNAPPA - there is a big difference between having a degree and being educated. Having attended a prestigious college myself, "educated" is one of the last words I would use to describe a great many of my fellow graduates. College in America is, for most, a four year vacation from reality, a leisurely life of binge drinking, partying, and football, with the occasional interruption for such educational classes as "Cultural Studies" and "Art History." And with so many people now attending college, driving up the cost in the process, and many of them declaring utterly worthless majors, it is no surprise that many of today's students will likely default on their student loans, unable to find employers that are willing to pay premium salaries for someone with the same skill set as a high school graduate.
The problem with services jobs is that:
(1) Many are low paying with no or few benefits.
(2) Many can be automated as hardware becomes more powerful and the software more sophisticated.
(3) Jobs that only involve the transmission of information or data can be easily offshored.
There are only so many geniuses in every society. A society that does not structure its economy for the bell curve is looking for trouble.
I'm a little surprised to learn this as well, but then again, there are a lot of people who are educated far beyond their actual intelligence.
It should have said that more people were schooled or had achieved a certain degree. Educated implies that they actually learned something.
Shot, most people that earn a degree have actually learned something. Most of the time it is a foundation which employers must then build on though. No one teaches the full subjects anymore and employers do not want to train new employees so everyone is in a catch 22.
So say that no one who earns a degree learns anything, or that most do not, is a fallacy. Most people do learn quite a lot in college if they are to learn, most of it is just general knowledge though.
Educated as in ? in college loan debt ? that's real smart ? personally ,I find the so call educated people in this place to be arrogant and ignorant and perfectly programmed.
'We' may all be more educated than ever before but that don't mean 'we' know anything.
Americans are more stupid than in anytime in the history of this nation. Case in point the last two Presidents that were elected.
Land of the un-free and home of the mendacious.
Then why are US citizens valuing the undereducated more? In fact, blocking legal students and graduates in favor of the undereducated like my ex-husband that makes nearly 150,000 a year doing nothing all day. He has no formal education and runs an IT department for a university - no skill - nothing but going to fake meetings and making spreadsheets. I suppose you'll have to ask him to pay my student loans off. I earned it. He didn't. He's a state/federal employee.
I understand what you mean. My ex-husband also does not have any higher degree (not even his associates) and he makes much more annually than I do. He also runs an IT department. I work in the IT environment (for a law firm to boot) myself and I can honestly say that it is one of the few careers that you can succeed in without a degree. Is it fair, no, but it is the nature of the IT beast. You don't need a full on education to understand how to build networks or secure a computer system. To this field, it is more about what certifications and experience you have than what degree you hold.
Believe me, I know what my ex did for his "certifications" so I am on the same page with you.
Unfortunately, I think it is necessary to run a well-balanced society and economy. Many people don't know enough outside their own area of expertise or personal experience to make important financial and political decisions that affect the future of the country.
Then why do so many Americans listen to talking heads like Rush Limbaugh? As if he has any actual knowledge or wisdom on any subject matter.
I'm sorry - but I am cutting down the undereducated for a moment because they love to take advantage and cut the educated to the core.
I've listened to this every day of my entire damned adult life - and my mother did before me - treating educated women - especially as lower than men and certainly not putting us in positions of authority - with intent.
These are real fighting words to me and I am prepared to start verbally defending my civil rights - all women in this nation that have earned at least an Associate's degree need to start aggressively speaking out about this - it's improper and unlawful.
(BTW - Rush Limbaugh is a whoremaster and thanks for letting me exercise U.S. Const. amend. I - I'm sure he would support my exercising of my constitutional rights)
Hold up ... let's have a look at the degrees people are getting...
Art History, Political Science, Performing Arts ...
Just one episode of Jay Walking (Leno), you'll see why we have elected idiots to office.
Yup.
I'd like to see graphs on Engineering, Sciences, and Mathematics degrees.
Steve, yes because the true idiots that they show on Leno represent 90% of American society... /s
While there may be less people going after those more important degrees there are still many that are. Throughout my own Software Engineering/Programming BS/AA I have had a total of 250 other students pursuing IT degrees online. That is standard for each student in each class, so there are a good 20,000, to 55,000 students minimum attending University of Phoenix for an AA in IT. I only counted my AA courses because I am not sure how many courses in the BS there are; there were 20 in my AA.
Each student gets out of college what they put into it, it is not like grade school where it is the teacher's job to make sure students learn. In college you have to want to learn, you have to want to make the grade in order to pass most of your classes. Especially in online courses where you have to have the ability to self-teach and be highly motivated to achieving success.
If you go in expecting an easy ride then you will become another statistic, if you go in wanting to learn about your field with great interest and are not of the mind that the only correct knowledge comes from an instructor then you are going to learn a lot of skills that will be used in your life.
Employers that want specific skill sets need to start looking at BS and Master's degrees only, AA's are more of a general education while the higher the degree the more specialized they employee will become. With that though they have to be willing to pay more. You cannot pay a Master's degree holder the same as an AA and expect to get applicants, even in this economy.
I'm sorry, but more college degrees going out does not an educated populous make.
We may have more college graduates than ever before, but it does not equate to a more educated nation. Most people can memorize facts and figures long enough to pass a test and then they brain dump, forget it and move on to the next class. You only need a C to pass and anymore, the grading scale is on a 10 point system. In some colleges, they are actually giving passing grades simply for participation and attendance during their freshman year. Really?! So a freshman that answers one question a class and actually shows up will receive a C automatically for doing what they already should be doing in the first place.
My son is not a college-bound kid. I know this. I would not be ashamed if he went to vocational school or if he went to tech school for a two year associates and joined the workforce a skilled worker. He would still be contributing to society, paying his taxes, making a decent living and working his butt off.
Computer glitch making duplicate entry... sorry :)
Being 'more educated' only means you can pass bogus college exams to get a degree. It does NOT mean Americans are smarter or more intelligent. Look at the math and science scores compared to other nations, and you'll see that Americans are a complete order of magnitude 'dumber' than Asia and some European countries. Having a degree just means you had money to attend school long enough to get one.
and the ones with the least COMMOM SENSE
Many cant even perform basic simple things.
While we may be more educated than ever, our common sense levels are at an all-time low. Education is not effective if we are making dumb decisions.
Higher education, college degree does not = intelligence heh heh. This is evident of the state our country is in LOL. To funny and I agree pretty much with all here so far heh heh.
If you want to witness no common sense try working around engineers for a while.They have the book answers but no common sense at all.
Lower the bar for a degree and, of course, more people have them. That doesn't make them more educated. Higher education is a business in this country and that means they need to grow. The best way for them to grow is to lower the standards.
They have so much education they dont think they have to work. What we need is more people that works for a living with less education. Obama was wrong with getting ever one educated you have to have some common sense people out working.
"Race to the top of the bottom" should slow those numbers down.
Go Slick Barry of the American Empire go.
A degree doesn't necessarily make you educated.
So many snobs. How will we ever survive with a better educated electorate?/sac
Now to give everybody the opportunity to have some sort of advanced education.
“The future of the U.S. economy is not assembling the computer. The future of the U.S. economy is coming up with a novel design for a semiconductor that gets into a computer, that will then be assembled in some emerging economy,” said Adolfo Laurenti
I've nine years experience designing novel semiconductors as well as engineering and computer science degrees with honors, yet I'm in the long term unemployed category. China recently unveiled a supercomputer called the Sunway which probably ranks among the 20 fastest computers in the world. It's semiconductors were designed and built in China.
That's impossible. The Chinese are not intelligent enough to make new types of chips. Chances are the chips were secretly designed by people in California.
@Dave, Well, first, there's a very limited number of positions for innovators like that. Second, making a fast super computer is just a matter of taking a bunch of regular consumer PCs and networking them together.
Oh how wrong you are.
Z-933870 - You are just one of the things wrong with this country
I hope you arent one of the "computer techs" we have working in this country.
@ImoenOfTelengard
It depends on which supercomputer you are talking about. There was one where the components were actually American-designed and made and they assembled it into a supercomputer (by no means a trivial feat because supercomputers are custom built by their very nature).
BUT, there is another supercomputer where the low-power consumption chips are being designed and built completely in China. Low-power computing is the next step up the ladder in supercomputers (a large supercomputer consumes as much power as a small town) and they cannot scale if electric power and waste heat is a problem.
American have to understand that the competition is raising the bar FASTER than Americans are becoming aware of the problems they face. This is primarily due to the fact that the competition is more organized culturally and politically. Americans waste way too much time arguing about nonsense instead of discovering a problem, planning a response and then executing that plan.
The reality is that every one has an opinion but not everyone's opinion is worth something.
Having considerable formal education does not necessarily make one smart, especially in street smarts. Otherwise how do you explain the rise of intellectual lightweights like Rick Santorum, and the popularity of TV programs like Jersey Shore and Pawn Stars that wouldn't challenge a 3rd grader.
Yes, I agree, but Americans are more unemployed than ever.
Those two are tied together. More and more people are staying in college for higher degrees or second degrees because they can't find work. My good friend has a Juris Doctorate and just finished his MBA. Unfortunately for him the economy didn't turn around in a year or so like he thought and now he has massive student loan debt and is still unemployed. Womp womp
Ideally, if able to afford it, getting a higher degree would be the way to go in a slow job market - being ready for the economy to turn. A lawyer with an MBA - don't know where he lives, but obviously needs to move - probably to any Coastal region, and try Insurance companies.