There are more smart people in India and China than there are in the U.S.

Think that’s a politically incorrect or racially biased statement? Not so, says Freeman Hrabowski III, the president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

It’s actually a simple mathematical equation, he says. And he demonstrated it at the National School Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network meeting on Feb. 3.

Consider this: China’s population is about 1.3 billion, and India’s is about 1.1 billion. That’s a total of 2.4 billion people.

Assuming that about 10 percent of any population will be very smart, that adds up to about 240 million in their top tiers. Keep in mind that these populations place a high value on education and are driven to succeed as part of their culture.

Then consider this: The total U.S. population is about 300 million.

Welcome to the new global economy.

The only way the U.S. can compete is to instill a sense of urgency into today’s students, to help them understand that nothing in their lives is more critical to their future success than an education, Hrabowski says.

And hopefully, that equation—that so many more people are going to be competing for a few jobs—might get their attention.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor