David Brooks, of the New York Times, has an interesting piece today on the dirty little secret that is skills-based outsourcing in a global economy. Building upon the tenets of Thomas Friedman’s “The World Is Flat,” Brooks argues that although the brute muscle that comprised our economy during the Industrial Age was is vital today, that component of today’s American economy has been largely outsourced offshore.
Today’s cognitive revolution, the increasing use of brain power to achieve workforce ends, will undoubtedly follow the same route if American education does not keep pace. Currently, American students severely lag in the Sciences and Mathematics which are the sort of cognitive fields needed in an increasingly global, tech-oriented economy.
