From Where Will Next Gates Come?
Which nation will produce the next Bill Gates? Only 29% of U.S. adults believe the next great commuter innovator and entrepreneur will come from America. The U.S. was the top choice, but was just one point greater than the percentage who said India will spawn the next such genius.
Those results come from a Zogby463 Interactive survey of 3,030 U.S. adults conducted from May 29 – June 1. We offered six choices of nations. Here are the results:
1. U.S. 29%
2. India 28%
3. China 15%
4. Japan 11%
5. Brazil 2%
6. Russia 1%
We also asked if people believed that the U.S. still had the economical, educational and societal conditions to produce another Gates. Two thirds said we do.
What does this survey say about how the U.S. competes with the rest of the world in creating new technologies? Do you believe that we still have the wherewithal to develop great technology innovators? Should U.S. schools put even more emphasis on science and math? Does it even matter which nations produce people such as Gates?
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I believe the next great innovator will, once again, be American. Although the “average” American student (if there is such a thing) is behind the “average” Indian or Chinese student (once again, if there is such a thing) academically, our “top” students have the necessary knowledge of math and science to equal and/or surpass students from other nations. The major difference: innovation requires CREATIVITY, and CREATIVITY can’t be taught; it must be INSPIRED, ENCOURAGED, and NURTURED. To call Bill Gates “smart” is an understatement. I’m sure he achieved his success through a combination of brains, ambition, foresight, and a creative nature that keeps him so far “outside the box” that it makes the heads of many of his “smart” global colleagues spin!
Bill Gates? His old man was the richest lawyer in Seattle and he went to a fancy private school. Lakeside School?
“Do you believe that we still have the wherewithal to develop great technology innovators?” Yes.
“Should U.S. schools put even more emphasis on science and math?” Unequivocally no. Look at our history and you’ll see that Americans led innovation and the scientific world when we offered top-notch liberal arts education. Understanding math and science without an appreciation of psychology, sociology, music, literature, etc. — the things that make us humans as opposed to just higher functioning mammals — and how the math and science affects us in their real application is pointless. I’ll willing to bet there are far more poeple who can see beauty in a Degas painting, a Puccini aria, or Chekov’s words than those who see “beauty” in a fifth-order equation or a lince of computer programming code.
@billwald
Who cares how rich or poor Bill Gates “old man” was? Look at the great Americans who came from poor back grounds, George Washington Carver,
Thomas Edison, Clarence Thomas, Ray Charles, Jim Ryder to name just a few.
The wealth of ones family or lack of same, does not predetermine what greatness or failure an American will reach. It is still up to the person.
That is what has made the USA the greatest nation in the world. Here a person can go as far as their skills and drive take them.