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There's no shortage of engineers, programmers, computer science majors, etc.
Just a surplus of companies claiming one so they can hire cheap foreign workers.
There is certainly a shortage of competent American born engineers, programmers and computer science majors. Anyone of them worth a damn can easily find a six figure job.
We have the top universities because our K-12 schools are pitiful and don't prepare kids for college.
Top universities (even public) use selective admissions. U.S. public K-12 does not. BIG difference. You can be in denial all you like, but facts are facts.
U.S. K-12 public schools only educate 1/3 of all graduates to basic 12th grade proficiency in math and reading: NAEP - Mathematics and Reading 2013
The education debate always cracks me up when it gets brought up in the United States.
* The first being is that everyone states that K-12 education sucks. Okay then why aren't people in masses protesting outside of there state legislatures? The federal government has never paid more then 10% for education in any state in the country. So if you have a problem with education where aren't you out there protesting and voting people who cut educational funding out of office? Please understand I'm not saying K-12 education is the greatest or that it sucks and is the worst in the world. What I'm pointing out is the fact people complain about it and don't really do anything to try and fix it.
* Some people blame teacher unions for education in the United States saying that since they are unionized that it makes it harder to fire them for there students constantly under performing. Yet how many people visit there state legislatures to talk about this? How many have actually written there state legislature to talk about this? How many of you honestly even know your state legislature's name? Politicians won't go after teachers (it tends to make them look bad) unless they know there voters support it.
* Why do people here in the United States keep running to the federal government for every issue now especially education to try and solve problems? You really think complaining to the federal government based out of DC is going to help little Johnny get a better education a thousand miles away next year if you complain to the feds? No it won't. When it comes Education, most Criminal Laws, and Infrastructure it's mostly handled by the state governments and is really there domain. Education is about 1/3 of any state's budget. Education is not even on the radar at the federal level for the most part compared to the state and local level. Simply put we have way to many people barking up the wrong tree wondering why they don't get results.
* Another thing this video doesn't really talk about is the fact the United States has always committed brain drain on the rest of the world since our founding as a nation. That is nothing new. Neither is people getting educated in the United States and returning to there home countries later on. That has happened throughout the history of the United States. Some people stay and some people go back to there home countries. This includes foreign students as well we've had students from Japan in the United States going to college when WW2 broke out and Egyptians studying in the US during the 1950's. This is not a new phenomena...it's scale is just larger now then it use to be.
* Why when talking about US educational system and specifically college whenever the cost of education are brought up aren't we talking about the rather insane amount of money that is spent on other things instead of education? Universities spend big money trying to advertise there schools instead of places of learning instead as a place to go and party and find yourself...aka waste Mom and Dad's money and not get a degree or even learn much of value. You want to know why education cost so much in the United States and we get less education for increased spending? It's due to massive ballooning in Administration costs. Yet for everyone that complains about the above how many actually try and do something about it?
* One reason why so many kids from foreign countries come to the United States for an education is due to the fact colleges are a business nowadays and want to make as much money as possible. You don't like that? Well what are you going to do about it?
* You can't improve education for everyone in the United States. Not everyone is capable of performing well in STEM education let alone working in a STEM field. Not everyone is cut out for it and not everyone that can perform well in STEM will take that path either.
* Last point I want to make is that you can have great teachers who do almost everything right and students can still underachieve if there homes are broken and there family life is hell and kids don't get the support they need from there family to achieve in education. This is the elephant in the room that no one really wants to talk about when it comes to education in the United States. Everyone wants to blame teachers, the school district, the federal government, etc. for there kids having trouble in school when in reality it could be them that are causing there kids to have problems in school.
In the end as far as education in the United States goes if you want better then mediocre education you have to press the issue. So far this really hasn't been the case with people for all there complaining aren't doing much of anything about it. Seriously how hard is it to once a year go talk to your state representative about education? You can't write one letter a year to your Congressman? You can't take one day a year to go protest outside of your state legislature?
The education debate always cracks me up when it gets brought up in the United States.
* The first being is that everyone states that K-12 education sucks. Okay then why aren't people in masses protesting outside of there state legislatures?
Because most people have a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) mindset. I'll give you an example based on real life experience...
Quote:
Originally Posted by InformedConsent
A lot of people think that their public schools are excellent, and a lot of school districts LOVE to foster and encourage that perception, even when it's not true.
I spent the better part of a year in the not too distant past educating my local community and our school district on the fact that one cannot make that assumption.
I lived in a town in which the percentage of college graduates is quite high. Consequently, the income levels and housing prices are also quite high. Our town's public high school brags that 94% of their graduates continue on to college. Sounds good so far, right?
Well... a newspaper publisher local to a different suburban area than the one in which I lived threw a huge monkey wrench into that idyllic blissfully unaware mindset when they got ahold of ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks and compared suburban Chicago public school district students' ACT scores with ACT's own College Readiness Benchmarks.
(In Illinois, all 11th grade students take the ACT as part of the required NCLB testing, which is a GOOD thing as that way the state CANNOT misrepresent the quality of our public high schools by making the state test easier or instituting lower passing scores as explained here: Lake Wobegon, U.S.A. -- where all the children are above average)
What that data showed was that while our local public high school loved to brag that 94% of their graduates continued on to college, only 27% of them were adequately prepared to take first year college-level courses according to the ACT Benchmarks. Furthermore, that 27% figure was significantly below that of comparable area communities and even that of communities in which housing prices were significantly lower.
I brought the data to our community's attention by publicly speaking out at school committee and board meetings which are covered by local suburban press.
The stunner: NO ONE in the community had EVER looked at that data even though it is easily accessible from ACT. Not school admin. Not the school board. Not students' parents. No one.
Naturally all the usual stages followed... shock, anger, resistance, and finally... grudging acceptance. The school admin and school board would have done nothing about it. Parents and community members shocked and angered at learning the truth have put pressure on the school to make improvements. School admin and the school board have subsequently been analyzing the situation and are making extremely slow progress in improving academic outcomes. Our high school's ACT College Readiness percentage is better but not anywhere near where it should be given the aspirations of our graduating students.
For those interested in exactly what the ACT College Readiness Benchmark scores are (they're SURPRISINGLY low, hovering close to the national average scores ): ACT College Readiness Benchmarks | ACT
Now, compare those low benchmark score minimums to the percentage of Chicago suburban school districts (some quite wealthy) that have prepared their students well enough to meet all 4 benchmark minimums (last column in chart): https://prev.dailyherald.com/packages/2007/schoollfinance/chapter10.htm
Lesson learned... DON'T automatically assume a school district's "excellent" reputation is deserved, or that higher-priced homes equals better public schools.
The education debate always cracks me up when it gets brought up in the United States. complaining to the federal government based out of DC is going to help little Johnny get a better education a thousand miles away next year if you complain to the feds? No it won't. When it comes Education, most Criminal Laws, and Infrastructure it's mostly handled by the state governments and is really there domain. Education is about 1/3 of any state's budget. Education is not even on the radar at the federal level for the most part compared to the state and local level. Simply put we have way to many people barking up the wrong tree wondering why they don't get results.
...In the end as far as education in the United States goes if you want better then mediocre education you have to press the issue. So far this really hasn't been the case with people for all there complaining aren't doing much of anything about it. Seriously how hard is it to once a year go talk to your state representative about education? You can't write one letter a year to your Congressman? You can't take one day a year to go protest outside of your state legislature?
You're barking up the wrong tree as far as my efforts are concerned. I changed IL State Law to unshackle the restrictions the ISBE placed on highly achieving students. In one of the most contentious ILGA sessions, ever, I got a unanimous yea vote for this:
There is certainly a shortage of competent American born engineers, programmers and computer science majors. Anyone of them worth a damn can easily find a six figure job.
LOL! Uh no! I think you need to check out the median wages for most of those careers :-P.
We sit around arguing about ridiculous stuff while the rest of the world is getting educated in the critical scientific fields. Often right here, and then they take their knowledge back home.
Who is paying for all that education?
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I'll give you an example based on real life experience...
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