[onewhippedpuppy]

Well said, and unfortunately it's spiraling downwards. A HUGE key is attracting more Americans to majoring in math and science related fields. Judging from my school, and statistics that I have seen, Americans are in the minority in engineering. Especially in the masters and PhD programs. When I say Americans I mean actual residents, the majority of our students are here from other countries. They will receive their education, then take the knowledge back to their home country. We have to stop the knowledge outflux, and that means educating those that will stay in the USA.

Bush recently announced a new campaign to attract American students to math and science related fields, and it's a good first step. We need to give huge incentives to students to go into these harder fields, more scholarships and grants would be a good start. I put in probably 50 hours a week on class and homework as an Aerospace Engineering student, if my wife didn't work there's no way I'd have the time. Kids realize this, that's why they end up in business school. We need to do something now, because there's far more engineers on the verge of retirement than there are in the pipeline, it's a problem poised to get much worse.