By Tudor Vieru, Science Editor
Softpedia.com
In a fortunate turn of events, it would appear that the United States had a higher number of students enrolling in science and engineering (S&E) graduate programs in 2008. It is often being said that the
strength of a country can be measured by the amount of scientists it has, and the US had taken a turn for the worse in past years. Over the last few decades, the overall quality of schools in the nation decreased markedly, with a few notable exceptions. America is currently lagging behind in international charts on learning quality, and doesn't even occupy one of the top 10 places.
Many
scientists have voiced concerns that too few students were enrolling in S&E programs, saying that a lack of skeptical, inquisitive, young scientists has two catastrophic consequences. First of all, the entire field of scientific research risks losing its development speed, and grinding down to a halt. Secondly, reduced numbers of scientific minds pave the way for the emergence of religious fanatics, who would stop at nothing to introduce their views and beliefs on how the world evolved into the classrooms, to be taught right alongside valid, empirically-tested, scientifically-correct theories. The rise in S&E enrollment is a positive aspect in this debate, one that is bound to give fanatics and fundamentalists a run for their money when the new generation of researchers and scientists develops.
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