How Flat is the World?

There is a lot of discussion among engineering faculty and professionals on the implications of Thomas L. Friedman’s book “The World is Flat- A brief history of the twenty-first century” 1 . The fundamental issues are concerns regarding the large number of engineering (and science) graduates that are being produced by emerging economies such as China and India, and the consequences thereof to the increased off-shoring of technical jobs. Also at issue is the lack of national (United States) prioritization and investment in engineering and science education and research and fear that this trend would continue unabated and inevitably lead to a loss of US economic competitiveness. The book and its premise has become a rallying ground for engineering faculty and has served to coalesce some sense of urgency in allocating more resources to engineering fields. The purpose of this ‘paper’ is not to argue against the basic premise of the book, but to look more closely at the educational system of India as a way to better understand the trends of the past half century and the resulting complexity in economic terms. The discussions are also true of other emerging economies. This paper will dwell upon three fundamental departures from conventional wisdom: The paper is not a scientific study but a starting point for deliberations on these that It