Engineering lacks appeal

I guess this was inevitable: concern about overseas outsourcing is discouraging America's youth from pursuing careers in engineering.

Even "some of the nation's tech elite -- including many immigrants who benefited greatly from engineering careers -- are finding even their own children shun engineering," the Wall Street Journal reports.

That's not not the only reason, of course: poor math and science curricula in public schools and a high burnout rate among students who do study engineering are issues, too. There's also "a persistent image problem":

A recent study of 2,800 of Silicon Valley's youth by consultants A.T. Kearney found that 73% were familiar with high-tech careers but only 32% wanted to pursue them. In describing tech careers, students in the study used a variety of unflattering terms, including "intimidating" and "uninteresting." Others said they considered engineers to be "socially awkward" or "obsessed with work." Some female respondents linked computer engineering with work that is "tedious" or "antisocial."