But we have been very slow to take notice and even slower to respond. I now suspect that the Jackson data understate the gravity of the problem. The deep sag in numbers of high scorers would be even deeper if not for the new immigrants who are propping us up. I surmise that the place to tackle the problem is in the secondary school and that a remedy lies in specialized secondary schools in the style of the North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics. But we need at least 50 such schools, and we need them now.
Physicists are like miners canaries.
Their health and vigor is an indicator of the healthfulness of the air we breathe. And although some canaries are still singing, the native species is headed for mass extinction unless we act quickly and intelligently. Scientists may not realize that some of the publishing companies they are most familiar with have undergone major upheavals. However, all is not lost, as small specialist houses are springing up to fill the niche. Often run by scientists themselves, using the new computer technology to publish books expeditiously, away from the high-overhead New York area, these houses can publish and market science books effectively and profitably.