The Bizword Is Science
The nation's business leaders want you to hit the books -- particularly the math and science books.
Worried about the prospects for the American economy if you don't, groups including the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and TechNet have banded together to put pressure on policymakers and the public to improve math and science education.
Among the coalition's priorities: more support for teachers, incentives for students to become scientists and engineers, more research funding and faster security clearances for foreign scholars. It wants to double the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in science, technology, engineering and math by 2015.
But what's wrong with the nation's future business leaders just studying, well, business?
Nothing, but it's only half the equation, said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Business is all about understanding how value is created and how to capitalize on it, he said, but that initial spark still has to come from the scientists and the engineers.
"MBA students need to team up with the technologists," he said.
-- Mary Ellen Slayter
