»Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Everyone is special.. so no one is
That's a recurring theme that runs through 'The Incredibles'. And the American educational system. After being in grad school in the US for two odd years, I'm still surprised to see that there are almost no Americans in engineering grad school. Even in lower division classes, ( I have no statistics here) there seem to be more international students than Americans. If this is not just a temporary anomaly, what does it mean for America over the next few years?
1. Countries such as China and India (with an enormous educated populace) are embracing technology like a long lost sibling. While it is true that most large companies are still based in the US, will there be a significant advantage in being in the US when there are equally large markets elsewhere?
2. One of the primary reasons for successfull startups in the US is the economic and academic climate. There is plenty of money and there are plenty of brains in the Universities. While the money is still there, the brains are steadily becoming scarce. Two reasons: 1. Students are increasingly reluctant to come to the US to study and instead preferring alternative destinations like Australia/Canada/UK due to visa issues and the hassles of finding a job. 2. Not enough American students who are willing to go to grad school. There are jobs which require the expertise that you obtain in grad school. Such as the research and development jobs (which are the ones that create the next-best-things)
3. How about the next generation of Americans? The 'Leave no child behind' policy encourages education to be dumbed down to the level of the average kid. From personal experience, I can claim that competition is good. Peer pressure is what drives kids to excel - no amount of books/teachers can achieve what some good ol' peer pressure can. A school where no one is driven to excel will (probably) produce average kids consistently. While a school where students *are* driven to excel will produce kids who want to become the innovators of tomorrow. (Of course, excellence is not just in technology - it could be in the Arts and Humanities too, but my whole argument is about the decreasing species called the American Engineer) Please, letting kids breeze through classes until they are in high school is such a waste of the human mind!
IMHO it is such a shame to have such wonderful facilities in a country and let them all go to waste because of complacence.
...
says..
right on...the repurcussions are already being felt by companies like raytheon, northrop-grumman, lockheed etc., where they need the best brains avbl for cutting edge projects, but with the caveat that they have to be US citizens....result--> lotsa vacuum...Raytheon has arnd 6000 engineering vacancies in their company that they cant fill up!!!
Sad logic which in itself undermines American interests...
Avinash
right on...the repurcussions are already being felt by companies like raytheon, northrop-grumman, lockheed etc., where they need the best brains avbl for cutting edge projects, but with the caveat that they have to be US citizens....result--> lotsa vacuum...Raytheon has arnd 6000 engineering vacancies in their company that they cant fill up!!!
Sad logic which in itself undermines American interests...
Avinash
says..
The problem with the ratio of Americans vs. foreigners in grad school unfortunately doesn’t simply stem from “not enough good ol’ peer pressure”…In countries such as India and China, the children have the luxury of growing up around loving, supportive families that encourage, if not demand, their children to excel in school. A lot of American students you see at ASU or other non-Ivy league schools have beat incredible odds to even make it out of high school, considering how they had to grow up. There ARE American grad students, but those students usually come from the same type of family that is more common in India and China, i.e. both parents were in the home and the home was a loving, supportive environment that encouraged education. Those American students who come from good families DO go on to grad school and usually at Ivy League schools. People from other countries come here and think these lazy American students must be crazy not to attend grad school, considering the number of jobs available for people who hold advanced degrees. Just because someone was born in the so-called “land of opportunity” doesn’t mean those opportunities will be readily available to anyone. Kids who come from homes without fathers or mothers, with alcohol and drug-addicted parents, with abusive parents, and with neglectful parents will be lucky if they reach high school without serious emotional issues, because of their upbringing. These kids have to deal with tremendous amounts of personal issues before even THINKING about education. Think about the slums and orphanages in Indian and China-those kids are NOT worried about education. Why? Because they are in survival mode. They have to think about getting away from abusive homes, poverty, and starvation. Sadly, more American kids growing up in this “land of opportunity” than people think, are also in survival mode. They are doing what they have to do to survive because no one ever taught them the importance of education.
The problem with the ratio of Americans vs. foreigners in grad school unfortunately doesn’t simply stem from “not enough good ol’ peer pressure”…In countries such as India and China, the children have the luxury of growing up around loving, supportive families that encourage, if not demand, their children to excel in school. A lot of American students you see at ASU or other non-Ivy league schools have beat incredible odds to even make it out of high school, considering how they had to grow up. There ARE American grad students, but those students usually come from the same type of family that is more common in India and China, i.e. both parents were in the home and the home was a loving, supportive environment that encouraged education. Those American students who come from good families DO go on to grad school and usually at Ivy League schools. People from other countries come here and think these lazy American students must be crazy not to attend grad school, considering the number of jobs available for people who hold advanced degrees. Just because someone was born in the so-called “land of opportunity” doesn’t mean those opportunities will be readily available to anyone. Kids who come from homes without fathers or mothers, with alcohol and drug-addicted parents, with abusive parents, and with neglectful parents will be lucky if they reach high school without serious emotional issues, because of their upbringing. These kids have to deal with tremendous amounts of personal issues before even THINKING about education. Think about the slums and orphanages in Indian and China-those kids are NOT worried about education. Why? Because they are in survival mode. They have to think about getting away from abusive homes, poverty, and starvation. Sadly, more American kids growing up in this “land of opportunity” than people think, are also in survival mode. They are doing what they have to do to survive because no one ever taught them the importance of education.
says..
"People from other countries come here and think these lazy American students must be crazy not to attend grad school, considering the number of jobs available for people who hold advanced degrees."
I apologize if I sounded like a troll here, but my comment was about the system, and not the people. The importance of a good education is something a society can never discount. Especially not a society such as the US where things are a lot better than any other place on earth. With all its warts and moles, the American society is a notch above most societies on earth and it would be a shame to see this degenerate due to a crumbling educational and economic system.
Your point about the economic burden of an education is well taken. Here is what I propose - undergraduate education should be affordable to all. Most students spend so much on their undergraduate education that they are heavily in debt when they get out of school. Naturally, the first thought is 'how do I get a job to pay off all those loans' and not 'what should I do in grad school'.
So should taxpayer money be spent in providing scholarships that cover most of the cost of education? Absolutely. I am no economist, but this education will create productive members of society - people who will create successful companies, or innovate, or generally help the economy grow and this will pay back the cost of education many times over. The returns are not immediately obvious, but they are definitely worth the investment. At least that way students will be able to evaluate whether they need a more specialized education in grad school with the evaluation metric being 'am I interested in doing such-and-such thing' rather than 'can I afford two more years of school'.
"People from other countries come here and think these lazy American students must be crazy not to attend grad school, considering the number of jobs available for people who hold advanced degrees."
I apologize if I sounded like a troll here, but my comment was about the system, and not the people. The importance of a good education is something a society can never discount. Especially not a society such as the US where things are a lot better than any other place on earth. With all its warts and moles, the American society is a notch above most societies on earth and it would be a shame to see this degenerate due to a crumbling educational and economic system.
Your point about the economic burden of an education is well taken. Here is what I propose - undergraduate education should be affordable to all. Most students spend so much on their undergraduate education that they are heavily in debt when they get out of school. Naturally, the first thought is 'how do I get a job to pay off all those loans' and not 'what should I do in grad school'.
So should taxpayer money be spent in providing scholarships that cover most of the cost of education? Absolutely. I am no economist, but this education will create productive members of society - people who will create successful companies, or innovate, or generally help the economy grow and this will pay back the cost of education many times over. The returns are not immediately obvious, but they are definitely worth the investment. At least that way students will be able to evaluate whether they need a more specialized education in grad school with the evaluation metric being 'am I interested in doing such-and-such thing' rather than 'can I afford two more years of school'.
says..
Hey Anil. I pointed out your blog entry at Tompeters.Com
The P-link is http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=007042.php !!! Look under comments.
Very Good Post by the way.
/pd
http//peterdawson.typepad.com
Hey Anil. I pointed out your blog entry at Tompeters.Com
The P-link is http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=007042.php !!! Look under comments.
Very Good Post by the way.
/pd
http//peterdawson.typepad.com
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