Poll : College Profs

I see three driving factors that have resulted in a decrease in the quantity and quality of students today.

The first factor is a reduced emphasis on the sciences in the US today compared to the 60s and 70s (my youth). For example, The National Science Foundation actively supported many summer programs for gifted high school students during the 60s and 70s. One summer I studied non-Euclidean geometry, the next, digital electronics and nuclear physics. They crammed calculus down our throats the first two weeks of the latter program. Fast forward to the 21st century: I didn't see anything of the sort for my kids, all of whom are in college now.

The second factor is that there is far too much reliance on standardized testing today. Communities, businesses, and politicians place extraordinary pressure on the schools to ensure students perform well on standardized test. Teachers teach the tests and little else. Rote memorization is the key to high performance on a test with a large number multiple guess questions. Students are not taught to learn, to think. Standardized tests are evil.

The third factor is money. Science and engineering aren't particularly lucrative careers anymore. Intellectual property lawyers rake in the money. Freshly minted IP lawyers are paid more than a tenured science professor 25 years out of college. Freshly minted MBAs do quite nicely also. A lot of smart young people are attracted to those big bucks.