The Chinese economic miracle and the success of India are not the results of indigenous efforts to compete like South Korea’s Samsung. They’re strictly the results of having a drastically cheaper labor cost, not by added value.

The global economy is a joke. It’s a race to the bottom. The idea of the global economy has no benefit except to the owners and shareholders of successful industries in the first world. Americans are not competing globally. You can’t when the dollar is worth so much more than the yuan or the rupee. Corporations in the US do not want to compete, they want quick, huge profits in China and India.

You aren’t competing globally. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you want $16/hr for a job and someone is willing to do it for 89 cents/hr.

There is exactly zero point in Americans pursuing high tech careers. We have numerous engineers, designers and other highly educated professionals who can’t find work. High tech jobs require a high tech industrial base manufacturing goods indigenously. The only profitable careers in America are in medicine, finance and law. We’re turning those people out in spades.

We’re not being out innovated. We’re being brain-drained. The Chinese government is increasingly mandating that overseas companies do their engineering in China. Why should an American student bust their tail to get say, a masters in chemical engineering when there is nothing for them to do with it here?

At some point the Tatas and Norincos are going to have to compete globally under their own brands. I know China and India want this but there is a time limit. As their economies grow eventually you’ll see conditions hit the point where Indian and Chinese (well maybe just Indian, remember the key point of devaluing the yuan is to keep the majority of the Chinese population employed, thus staving off civil unrest) workers cost too much, first world corporations will move production to The Philippines, Southern Sudan and Belarus. Of course if the American economy totally collapses by then it won’t matter. No one will be able to afford Buicks and iPads anyway.

All of this was what we heard about the Japanese in the 80s. The hyper-motivated, hyper-educated, hyper-ambitious Japanese worker would destroy us all. Today, Japan still isn’t over it’s lost decade.

We cannot afford to worry about ‘content’ children or teens—we need to inspire them to learn and desire to be above the rest–that knowledge IS Powerful—

What you should worry about is the fact that there will be NO JOBS HERE in America unless students understand the urgency and the responsibilities that lie on them to compete in a global economy. period. How content will they be then?

I am a teacher, and I desire to teach to the highest of standards. There is intense lack of discipline and self-discipline within our young people. So few students are prepared for the global situation…the best and brightest of our groups have ALOT to compete against–and those few KNOW this. They are trying to do so much, with very little support in our educational structure…because we are too busy taking care of those that can’t take care of themselves…

To NOT compare ourselves to other countries, is to be blind at our fate to come. I’ve seen it. My old company outsourced their IT department and most of their HR dept. TO Costa Rica! Each time you had to call to change a password or ask a payroll question, you called Costa Rica when you picked up the phone.

It IS happening. We don’t have time for excuses. We have to inspire our youth to desire something greater then the next big video game release or fashion trend.

I’m Deeply Concerned about the future of the USA.

If another person wanted to, they could easily turn the table and find students in the US that would look better than students in other countries.

It seems this movie is based on very specific anecdotal evidence. It could be nothing more than a glimpse at a small portion of a much larger picture. That could do more harm than good.

Granted, all I’ve seen is the trailer. I’m just wary of anecdote being confused for universal truth.

Having watched the documentary a few times, it IS only a tiny perspective of a huge cultural and economic issue… but that’s the purpose… to expose people to a glimpse of things and ideas they may not have considered and generate discussion.

I found the production gave a fair presentation of some basic differences in world views… and raised some interesting questions about what our kids in the US are doing with their time… both in and out of the classroom.

Watching and discussing the film with teenagers is very interesting!

The bottom line is that the strength of other countries makes them powerful collaborative partners in a global economy.

The United States seems to be producing more designers, thinkers, innovators, and creators at this point, while India and China are producing people who can crunch numbers, assemble, and engineer. So far, that’s made for greater economic viability and a higher standard of living for Americans. At the same time, outsourcing has improved the quality of life for Indians and the Chinese.

Granted, those countries will start to produce and create in their own ways, making them even more valuable collaborative partners.

As an educator, I have dozens of students every day who go to school, participate in an enrichment activity, do hours of homework, and then sleep. I also have students who go home and network, play, design, and create. Both of those groups have rich lives and are working toward bright futures. They are no more or less in danger than people were 10 years ago. If anything, they are better prepared for their place in the global economy.

First, I did not attempt to assess the “contentment” of people in India, China or the US. There are metrics that attempt that and last I saw I think Iceland had the most contented population.

Second, unless you have traveled to India and China and had very different experiences from my own, I would encourage caution on the myth that we produce more creative or innovative people.

It is true we have a culture and a highly evolved capital structure that supports creativity, innovation and new design – but the hundreds of Indian and Chinese engineers and scientists, teachers and graphic artists that my companies employ are every bit as creative as most Americans.

The fact that 40% of all Silicon Valley venture capital-backed start-up technology companies are led by immigrant Indians indicates some meaningful level of innovation.

“Design is one of the most popular majors at Chinese universities today, and hundreds of design consulting firms have sprung up in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou.” November 07 Business Week

The fastest selling car at GM (Buick LaCrosse; over 110K units) was designed by an all Chinese design team in Shanghai. (Fast Company April 07)

Third, I must disagree that economically American kids are in a no more dangerous economic position than they were 10 years ago.

In fact, 3,000,000 new capitalists have entered the global economy in the past 25 years – China, India and the former Soviet Bloc. Travel in these countries, visit their schools, talk to their young people and then decide whether billions of eager, smart, hard working people will increase competition for high wage jobs or decrease it.

This generation of Americans, in the 21st century, will face greater global competition from twice as many competitors as we have ever seen in our history. And from my first-hand observations in all three countries, the future is very bright for young people in two of the three countries.

Finally, as one should not judge a book by its cover, one ought not judge a movie by its trailer. See the film or better yet take your vacation this summer to India or China or Vietnam or Cambodia. It will be cheaper than Europe and much more enlightening.