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<p>Actually, I believe that all of those proposed ideas could be helpful on the margins, and probably should be enacted. I also have to disagree that China and India never did anything to stoke their supply of engineers. Both China and India made extensive investments in their education systems to produce more and higher-quality engineers, India most famously with the IIT’s, and China with similar large investments in their system of technical colleges and educational centers. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, I do agree with you that ultimately it can’t just be a supply-push, but rather a demand-pull that will solve the problem once and for all. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. I believe that the US government could do more to improve access to technical education. However, ultimately, it’s the companies themselves that have to entice the students to complete engineering degrees and stay in engineering upon graduation, and they will do that only by offering engineers better jobs. Otherwise, you will always have a braindrain away from engineering and to other fields.</p>