There has been much publicity about a scientist shortage in both the United Kingdom and the United States. If one Googles the keywords “scientist shortage” there is a plethora of articles, research, concern and public statements.
Whether there is an actual scientist shortage is a matter of debate. However, there does not seem to be a surplus of scientists. No references could be found that argue there is a surfeit or oversupply of scientists.
Here we provide the answer as to why there are not more new and young scientists in both countries.
The answer is that there are not enough boys in the pipeline. That is, there are not enough smart boys entering and graduating from higher education at the undergraduate level to provide a sufficient number of new scientists and eliminate the concern about a scientist shortage.
A “smart boy” is one who tests at or above the level needed to enter a four year college or university. There are 2 million smart boys missing from higher education in the United States every year. Over the course of a decade, that means a shortage of around 5 million college graduates. In the United Kingdom, there are thousands of smart boys missing from
higher education.
This means that around one-third of the college eligible males are not graduating from higher education. The sciences simply cannot produce enough new scientists given that one-third of the male candidates are not even eligible.
In both countries, the decline of smart boys entering and graduating from higher education began around 1980, and has consistently gotten worse.
Other reasons have been proposed. All may, or may not, contribute to the problem. None of the reasons are sufficient to explain the phenomenon. None of the other proposed solutions can overcome a shortage of millions of smart candidates for future occupations in science.
Thus there needs to be more male undergraduates from higher education to meet the perceived or real demand for scientists. We do not need to argue that young men have a greater proclivity towards science than young women. The data shows that even if all of the young women who want to become scientists do so, there is still a serious shortage.
The solution is to admit more smart boys to college and university. Elsewhere we have documented how this can be accomplished without additional cost or delay.
The links on this page provide greater detail as to the documentation and findings.
