The knowledge-based economy
As the world enters the 21st century, the global economy is becoming a knowledge-based economy. What this means is that the "content" of high-tech products is intellectual rather than physical. Most market studies in the past ten years concluded that in the near future over 70% of jobs require either a bachelor's or a master's degree. (The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics cites a higher figure at 76% for the U.S when the European Economic Council comes up with 68% for European countries).
The knowledge-based economy employs people with a wide range of educational, some are technical and some are not. However among them, Information technology (IT) is considered the fastest growing and the best jobs for people who only want to invest no more than four years of education. The other careers such as Medical doctor, Pharmacist, Registered Nurse and Healthcare specialist require an investment of more than four years.
Within the information technology industry, software engineering, computer science, and information system management are highest paid careers. Graduates from these areas can work as Software developers, Lead engineers, Project managers, Database administration, Network administration, System administration, System architects, Information system director, and even Chief Information Officer (CIO) etc. Today the number of students enroll in these fields are much lower than demand so the world is in serious shortage of these skilled workers.
If these areas are so promising why don't students study them? The popular explanation is that in the past ten years, most college students prefer to enroll in finance, business, investment banking, and stock market trading with the hope of making more money. This theory cites the U.S Office of Science and Technology reports that each year, the U.S granted over 300,000 bachelor's degrees in business but only 20,000 in computer science. At the graduate level, the U.S produced over 40,000 lawyers, but less than 800 Ph.D computer scientists. Another theory blames on the belief that many high tech jobs will be outsource to lower cost countries such as India and China so most students do not want to study IT because they afraid that they may not have jobs when graduate.
However, I believe the reason fewer students study high technology because they are not being prepared earlier. To encourage more students to pursue high tech career, we must start in high school. It is in high school that students build the foundation for science and technology. Without a strong education in math and science, many students will find technology areas difficult and not be able to handle scientific works. The fact that approximately 40% of college students switch from high tech areas to other field of study is clear evidence that many students do not have enough basic foundation to pursue technology careers. If we do not strengthen the current high school education, we are denying opportunity for our children and our future.
The fact is there are countries that do not have critical shortage of high tech workers. Japan, S. Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan all have plenty of talents to support their high tech industry. A professor in S. Korea told me that they even have surplus of bachelor's degree workers in electronics, and computer although their high tech industry is still growing fast. S. Korea is known as "the most wired country in the world” where 95% of all household have access to the internet. Broadband connect all schools, education institutions, government offices, hospital, and business and almost everything else. I was surprised to find out that some high school students in S. Korea are already learning programming languages when they are in 10th grade. Furthermore, they have a very strong math and science program in high school. About two third of their training are focusing on math and science. That is why they have high number of college students enrolling in technology areas. It also explains why large and small technology companies are springing up all over this country.
To support a knowledge-based economy, we need better education system from high school to college as well as lifelong learning. Some parents asked me: "What is the best preparation for a career in Information technology?" I told them: “Start early in math and science.". Every student today, in order to be competitive, must be a knowledgeable user of information technology and the best way is to have them start early.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
