Last Sunday's NY Times Magazine included a vital essay, "It's a Flat World, After All," by Thomas L. Friedman. In the piece, Friedman argues that as fewer American students enter science and engineering programs, and quality education becomes accessible in China and India, low cost, high tech jobs will shift to the other side of the world, undermining the US' global economic leadership.
As he says, "So parents, throw away the Game Boy, turn off the television and get your kids to work. There is no sugar-coating this: in a flat world, every individual is going to have to run a little faster if he or she wants to advance his or her standard of living. When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, ''Tom, finish your dinner -- people in China are starving.'' But after sailing to the edges of the flat world for a year, I am now telling my own daughters, ''Girls, finish your homework -- people in China and India are starving for your jobs.''
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