President Obama called it a 'Sputnik Moment' and, when you weren't wondering why a guy who is against war uses a lot of military terminology and invokes Ronald Reagan(1), you may have still wondered what his summoning of the military-industrial complex of the 1950s that his core constituency hates and ridicules had to do with science education.
China is his worry. Science education may be his solution. An educated workforce doesn't need low-end manufacturing jobs, after all. I have long contended that simply teaching American students more entry level science and math facts to compete with Asian students ignores the fact that kids in other countries may really only better at science and math tests - America dominates the high end of science and will continue to do so, especially if we can cast off ridiculous protectionist visa policies from the 1990s so smart people educated here can get jobs and are not forced to return home. But it won't be easy.
The reason I think America will continue to shine in science is creativity. Science requires creativity and that requires freedom, including the freedom to think (and even to not be scientists at all), and that goes far beyond teaching to tests. It also goes beyond government. Pres. Obama thinks the government made the space race successful. If you look at the bloated, delayed projects of today you know that isn't true. There is no reason it takes us longer to go back to the moon today than it did the first time, when NASA had today's computing equivalent of an iPhone to do the whole thing. Instead, the government gave a specification and money to the private sector to get things done and they got them done.
No one in NASA was agonizing there weren't 51% women working on NASA projects then (and it it is likely the percentage of scientists and engineers then was a lot closer to
(1) He's not wrong there. Like Obama, Reagan had a lousy first two years including a bad economy. Unlike Obama, Reagan had an opposition Congress, which forced him to prioritize and codify his thoughts and agenda into what he believed would do the most good. Fortunately, American voters were kind enough to give Obama that same opportunity this past Congressional election.
