Recently I watched a short video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM) from a talk with Michio Kaku, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York. He speaks about the decline of scientific minds within the United States. According to Kaku 50% of PHD candidates in the United States are foreign born. So why is this? If I were to show that statistic to every single person in America I would guess that the vast majority of people would agree with the statement that America is in fact getting stupider. And yes, the vast majority of America saying that the vast majority of America is stupid is obviously ironic. But I think, personally, that this statistic can be attributed to a much bigger problem. Or what seems to me to be a problem. During high-school I adopted the idea that the only real purpose of going to school is to get a job and make money. This is why I came to college. I believed that without college I was doomed to an unsuccessful and thus unhappy future. However, this was not my opinion in my early childhood. I enjoyed learning rather than thought of it as a necessary evil. I think this problem, which affects a large amount of the American population, stems from exactly what makes America, America. Capitalism. I'm not addressing capitalism as a economic system but instead as a mind-state. We have adopted the ideas of capitalism as a mindset and even a moral system. It should be obvious why thinking that school is only good for getting a job could be detrimental to science. Ridding ourselves of this capitalistic mindset however, is impossible. It is difficult to convey just how deeply it invades every part of our thought processes. Things which we fully consider to be simply human traits are rather only consequential ideas of a capitalistic mindset. When I came to college I originally decided on a career in Engineering. I chose this not because I enjoyed engineering but instead because I believed I had a talent for math and science and that engineering was the most sure way to take those talents and make them into a stable career. This may seem like a slightly valid reason. But you should be able to see how this could only be considered a valid reason if you have capitalistic bias'. I am now a Physics major. Not because I know that I have a sure and specific future career ahead of me. I am a Physics major because I have decided I want to know what I want to know. School is for gaining knowledge is it not? So yes. America is losing its ability to create scientific minds. It is disgusting that an inquisitive mind, like my own, would have difficulty in deciding to allow itself to be inquisitive simply because of a definition of success which only caters to a capitalistic mind-state. Even now I struggle. When I arrive at topics in my Physics textbook which confuse me I sometimes think, maybe this isn't for me. It would be so much easier to study a subject where the material you study doesn't takes longer to comprehend than to actually learn. And yet, one simple thought allows me to keep going. I imagine myself as a 40 year old, reading a popular science book on Physics. The book in this dream is a book regarding the formation of black holes. In speaking of how black holes form it makes one simple statement. "The math behind these ideas suggests that"...etc. I imagine myself reading this and not knowing what the math suggests and also knowing that if I were to find the math which suggests this proposition that I would not be able to comprehend it. That thought is terrifying to me. I would feel as if I have wasted my entire youth. I cannot stand the thought of being in my 40's and not knowing answers or at least theories to the questions which now keep me up at night. That thought is terrifying enough to allow me to keep doing what I am doing. I simply want to know more about the world. So when the statement is made that America is falling behind in Math and Science it doesn't surprise me one bit. I know from personal experience how little the majority of America caters to and respects the scientific mind. Too often I hear students say "Why do I need to learn this? This isn't going to be useful to me in life. I don't care about this subject. How is this going to useful in my career? Who really cares?" Genuine curiosity about the world and the desire for knowledge are very rare traits. What I can do is surround myself with the people who have developed their own scientific minds. Inquisitiveness can't possibly a bad thing.
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