"Why are we so good at building athletes and not so good at producing, say, writers?"

Perhaps because almost any member of the general public, even someone like me with a low interest in most sports, is aware of who is the best in a sport. I may not play much baseball, but I know in general which teams are at the top of the league tables in the professional leagues, and I can identify a difficult, skillful play when I watch it on television even if I can't perform it. Professional sports have entertainment value for almost everyone.

By contrast, writing (a career I have long aspired to pursue) is completely opaque to the many members of the general public who never, ever read a book after they complete their secondary schooling. It's harder to tell who is the best writer (there are published best-seller lists, but those include books by celebrities who are writing through unnamed ghostwriters) and it's harder for someone uninterested in writing to appreciate a well crafted story or even a well turned written phrase. The biggest rewards at the top of the distribution of developed ability go to performers whose performances are appealing to and appreciated by nearly all consumers.

The article has a too-brief discussion about its main point (rather than the illustrative question quoted above), how to encourage young people to pursue careers in science. This is of deep interest to me, as my third son is deeply interested in biology and wants to know all about science in general. Young people develop an interest in baseball, football, and soccer (my son's sport) partly by early pleasant experiences in playing backyard games with siblings or neighbors and perhaps by participating in organized youth sports programs. Many fewer young people have pick-up opportunities to engage in science and especially few have opportunities as early and as often to engage in thoughtfully organized science programs. (My son travels fifty minutes each way once a week to go across our metropolitan area for a joint science class for homeschoolers arranged by a friend of mine. He finds that experience highly motivational. We drive past tens of thousands of children his age languishing in public schools at the same hour as we travel to those weekly classes.) More needs to be done for the young to get them good instruction at young ages in science and math.

http://www.ams.org/notices/200502/fea-kenschaft.pdf

And, yes, helpful comments like President Obama's comment on science fair winners in the State of the Union address need to be made more often by national leaders, and more press coverage of top scientists would be very welcome. But it would be enough simply to instruct young people well in mathematics and science and nurture their curiosity about those subjects through extracurricular activities as they grow up. That's mostly what works for the countries that do better than the United States in bringing up new generations of scientists.

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2009highlights_4.asp

After edit: I have opened a separate Ask HN thread

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2396184

to ask HNers for specific suggestions to encourage interest in science among young people. Thanks for any suggestions you have.