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When the article says, "We’re losing an alarming proportion of our nation’s science talent once the students get to college", and the reason is they can't hack
by droithomme 15y ago
When the article says, "We’re losing an alarming proportion of our nation’s science talent once the students get to college", and the reason is they can't hack hard math, it seems to me we are not "losing our nation's science talent", because those students weren't part of the small number that are capable of original research to begin with.
A better question to ask would be to look into why those who ARE capable choose to do other things, like become Quants for Goldman Sachs.
Wringing hands over why those who were never capable to begin with give up isn't worth worrying about any more than we should worry about the clumsy overweight and weakling kids who didn't make it into the state football team when they got to college.
- HeyLaughingBoy 15y agoThe problem may not be that you are losing those capable of original research (though I am sure that many of them are lost), but that not all scientists need to be able to do that research. For each researcher, you need people capable of assisting, people in factories making the tools and reagents and measuring devices, etc. These may be considered not as prestigious as research, but they are just as valuable nonetheless.