Sputnik Moment

There is all this talk about Sputnik moment, time of change etc., but let’s not forget what happened after the so called “Sputnik moment” during the 50s. US got all scared, wanted to catch-up, decided to fund, out-educate, out-RD, and then … they brought in the German guy.

Right? Would the Apollo projects get off the ground (literally) without Von Braun? Or let’s generalize and say “without serious European mojo”? That is the critical point, even today, the solution for more R&D, more innovation in US seems to be more immigration. Partly this is understandable, since US is a country founded by immigrants. But the question is, can it continue to rely on immigrants in an age when more and more people opt to stay at home, and, with the absence of an immigration option, can US find a way to out-educate other nations without using innovative methods?

I argue US cannot do this by using outdated words such as “classrooms”, “standards”, and “teachers”. Obama state of the union speech fell flat on many issues and education was one of them. The world has changed, nothing in the past will be able to help 100%. You can look to Reagan all you want for solutions – at least he had the good sense to talk to Tofflers in his day – but world has changed drastically even compared to Reagan’s time. We need original ideas.