printI wonder about those who claim our math and science students are first rank, and blame the high-tech sector and its greed for the “importation” of South and East Asian talent. Sure, there is an abundance of greed (not necessarily harmful in one of the freer sectors of the economy). There is also a requirement to display diversity, even if imported, so as to comport with the diabolic diversity policies peddled by all companies as zealously as do the state and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien. But neither are there any shortages of unskilled Americans in the sciences. Have the reductionists, who refuse to recognize this dumbing down, ever spoken to senior and serious high-tech talent; people who are employed and always overworked, because there are so few of them?
“Although the number of college graduates increased about 29% between 2001 and 2009,” reports the WSJ, “the number graduating with engineering degrees only increased 19%, according to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Education. The number with computer and information-sciences degrees decreased 14%. Since students typically set their majors during their sophomore year, the first class that chose their major in the midst of the recession graduated this year.
Students who drop out of science majors and professors who study the phenomenon say that introductory courses are often difficult and abstract. Some students, like Ms. Zhou, say their high schools didn’t prepare them for the level of rigor in the introductory courses. [She’s more honest than the professors. “My ability level was just not there,” says Ms. Zhou of her decision” to drop out from electrical and computer engineering.]
Overall, only 45% of 2011 U.S. high-school graduates who took the ACT test were prepared for college-level math and only 30% of ACT-tested high-school graduates were ready for college-level science, according to a 2011 report by ACT Inc.”
Science classes may also require more time—something U.S. college students may not be willing to commit. In a recent study, sociologists Richard Arum of New York University and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia found that the average U.S. student in their sample spent only about 12 to 13 hours a week studying, about half the time spent by students in 1960. They found that math and science—though not engineering—students study on average about three hours more per week than their non-science-major counterparts.
When I was a boy,(Yes another old fudd saying “When I was a boy”.) When I was a boy in grammar school we had periodic spelling bees. It would take at least an hour or more to weed each class down to 1 winner then it might take 2 or 3 hours or more to get to the best in the school. 3rd thru 6th grades, about 50 class rooms. Some years back I went to the school where my 2 youngest were going with about 50 classes and it took about 40 minutes to go thru the whole school. I was all set for a long day and got out early enough to get an early lunch. Due to health problems during the last 3 to 4 years I have seen at least 10 doctors. Some only once, some on a regular basis. 3 were American. And Memphis is a medical center with The University of Tennessee med school and 4 major hospitals, including St.Jude. It’s no mystery that our schools have become soft, high paying gigs for corrupt teachers unions and the product turned out is based on politically correct ideology and leftist dogma. The dumbing down of our populace is a planned process to facilitate the left controlling the country. If people can’t read they are slaves to electronic media to get their news and opinions. Who controls the electronic media? The left. I’m real good at pointing out problems but sometimes not so good at solutions. This is one of those times.
I went to a good public high school back in the 70’s. I took two full years of Chemistry, one year of Biology, and finally a year of Physics. The only math in high school I didn’t get was Calculus. So by the time I got to college I was used to studying, doing lot of homework, etc. If a kid is going to get a degree in Engineering, Math, the Sciences, or Computer Science he better be ready to put in the effort. I put in the effort and have been one of those more than busy engineers for a long time now.
Even in the 70’s and 80’s many of our engineering societies were pointing to the fact that our graduate schools in Engineering, Computer Science, Math, and the Sciences didn’t have enough American students. This has not been trending well for over 30 years. I guess now we are starting to see the same phenomena in the undergraduate student population.
[That’s telling. Growing up in Israel, we had to do high-school Calculus for a university entrance matriculation (secondary-school exams). Did I work hard in those day! Hours on end daily.]
One can ask why very few Americans graduate high school before age 18 (a couple generations ago, it was quite common for smarter ones to finish by 15 or 16). Why a “common curriculum” for bozos and geniuses? Who cares what the racial/sexual distribution of physicists are? One can also ask why there are 10+ weeks of summer vacation, how does smaller class size accomplish anything other than increase the cost of schools, and why the emphasis on “special education” for the inferior instead of extra challenges for the bright children?????
Even more – why do numbers count at all? Ayn Rand used to speak about this – 100 dummies do not equal one Einstein (maybe for ditch digging, of course – but not for scientific innovation). Treating learning as a bulk product instead of the product of an individual mind is the essence of Marxist thinking.
We reap what we sow.
Myron my mother graduated from high school before she was 16, her birthday was in August. In an earlier time I would have been on a similar track but apparently that was against standard procedure Baltimore City School System. I suspect that I could have gone directly from 2nd to 4th grade or 3rd to 5th but it was not to be. I really didn’t get pushed until we moved to Florida when I started high school. I never understood why I saw the same mathematics over and over after about 4th grade (except for a little geometry in 5th). There were so many wasted years!
One of my roles for my employer is recruitment. Recently we have been looking for a mechanical engineer. In my admittedly limited experience, it certainly seems that Americans have given up the hard and practical sciences. Foreign born candidates outnumber native at least 2 to 1. And those natives who do apply are mostly in their fifties and sixties. It is the same with food scientists.
If anyone has the stomach, you can read
“respected” New York Times columnist Nick Kristof’s socialistic nonsense:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-occupy-the-agenda.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
how the wealthy 1% have more wealth than the bottom 90%. Actually, the bottom often has negative wealth because they spend money and never accumulate any! Apparently, the “fair” distribution (notice that private property is completely disrespected) is that the top people have 3 times the wealth of the bottom people (even if the bottom refuses to save!!).
These are the “intelligent people” who teach the young people – no wonder they are jobless!