ET Go Home!

As director of a departmental graduate program, I have found it increasingly difficult to recruit the best American college students for careers in scientific research. I believe that over the past five years, this has become the norm rather than the exception throughout American research universities. Many experts have predicted severe problems for America’s technological future if the trend is not reversed. The tremendous influx and reliance upon the brightest foreign students for graduate studies may be internationally noble but it could be nationally disastrous To date, neither experts in government nor academia have been able to identify the causes or find solutions to this complex problem. I would like to propose one possible cause and a solution to this potential national crisis. Like millions of American families, mine viewed the movie ET by Steven Spielberg on a VCR recently. My wife and I saw the movie for the first time, whereas our children were watching it for the second, fourth, or sixth time! This movie presents an entertaining and humorous scene in which the children in a biology class release scores of frogs destined to be dissected. Later there is a strongly emotional scene in which medical doctors are working feverishly to save the alien, but the young hero is screaming that the doctors are killing him. In both cases, there are subtle and powerful messages that the adults who rely on science and research are the enemy. In another Spielberg success, Project X, the entire premise of the movie is the rescue of research monkeys from military scientists. In this case the message is not so subtle. it is loud and clear: Research by adult authorities is wrong and must be stopped by the young hero. It must be remembered that ET was a box office smash when today’s college students were in elementary or high school, their formative years. And it is ironic that many of Spielberg’s projects involve state-of-the art engineering accomplishments. The illusions of ET, the alien, and of the space ships could not have been so real if scientific discoveries were not utilized. Now Spielberg is killing the goose that laid his golden egg! In contrast to these modern movie themes, try to remember the portrayal of the research scientists in past Hollywood successes. In the thirties and forties, these men (for the most part) were creators of monsters such as Frankenstein, and the term “mad scientist” was born. However, in the fifties and early sixties the scientists were portrayed as saviors (usually from invaders from outer space). This was the period following the Sputnik crisis and the patriotic call from President John Kennedy to save America through scientific achievements. This is the period of time when most of our present baby boomers were in elementary or high school and struggling over career decisions. I believe that the positive images of the research scientists portrayed in the cinema of that day may have unconsciously promoted many scientific careers of today. If the movies are indeed influencing younger generations in career decisions then we in the science community must fight fire with fire. We must encourage the Hollywood producers to make movies in which the young heroes (together with respected senior heroes) solve and triumph over evil by using scientific discoveries to their advantage. Research and knowledge must be the tools of the victor, they can no longer be the instruments of evil that must be thwarted. This persuasive media of Hollywood has already encouraged military prowess with the recent movie Top Gun. I’m told that hundreds of young people now want to be jet fighter pilots because of this one movie which glamorized this profession. We now need several pro-science movies starring young black and white men and women in order to promote the future of American scientific research. The young heroes must be smart but not portrayed as “nerds.” This recent depiction of intelligent students in the movies is insulting and counterproductive. Although the problem is a serious one and probably has numerous causes, it is my premise that important solutions will include a positive and favorable portrayal of the American scientist in the movies. GILBERT R. HAGEMAN University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, Ala 35294

ET Go Home!

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