I recommend this article in the WSJ about physicist Michio Kaku:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203960804577239852155894014.html

The most interesting part of the article comes at the end, when the discussion turns to the production of scientists by the U.S. education system.

<< Now, he says, the U.S. is losing its edge because we're not producing enough scientists. "Fifty percent of Ph.D. physicists are foreign-born, and they're here compliments of the H1-B visa," Mr. Kaku relates. "There's a brain drain into the United States; that's why we're still No. 1. But it can't last forever." China and India are slowly luring back their natives, while our top students are eschewing the hard sciences for lucrative careers in areas such as investment banking.

<< "I have nothing against investment banking," Mr. Kaku says, "but it's like massaging money rather than creating money. If you're in physics, you create inventions, you create lasers, you create transistors, computers, GPS." If you're an investment banker, on the other hand, "you don't create anything new. You simply massage other people's money and take a cut."

<< It's a shame, because Mr. Kaku believes humans are natural-born scientists. "When we're born, we want to know why the stars shine. We want to know why the sun rises." But then we hit "the danger years" for young people: high school. "And we lose them by the millions—literally by the millions. Why? It's a combination of bad teachers and no inspiration." >>

I learned about this article at http://www.openculture.com/2012/03/michio_kaku_were_born_scientists_but_switch_to_investment_banking_.html