Debunking Technical Competency as the Sole Source of Innovation
Abstract
Academic and governmental organizations have sounded the alarm that the United States is rapidly losing technical competence, and this decline places the Nation at risk. A 1983 National Science Foundation (NSF) report stated, If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well view it as an act of war. In 1999, Congress chartered the U.S. Commission on National Security/21 st Century (also known as the Hart-Rudman Commission) to provide the most comprehensive Government-sponsored review of U.S. national security in 50 years. The report highlighted a lack of U.S. technical competence as a national security threat second only to the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists. This article attempts to answer the question: Does improving technical competency enhance innovation? The Hart-Rudman Commission report and many others argue that technical competence is a prerequisite for innovation. Producing technically competent Americans in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), according to such reports, would stimulate innovation. Technical competence refers to technically trained people with a high level of knowledge and skill related to one or more specific technologies or technical areas. Technically competent individuals are typified as those who have received post-secondary STEM degrees. A lack of U.S. STEM-credentialed personnel and the subsequent technologies they produce threatens national security. For the purposes of this article, national security is broadly defined as success on the battlefield.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA618530
Entities
People
- Burton H. Catledge
Organizations
- National Defense University