The powers-that-be continually imply that American workers are dumb and lazy. In fact the opposite is true.
No less than a recent U.N. report maintains that the average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235, and France at $54,609.
If you listen to multinationals or the media you would think all American born kids are in special education classes or some training program learning basket weaving. That is what the powers-that-be would have you believe. The truth is a bit different. A fact the elite do not want to tell you is that low scores for American students are either in urban minority groups or recent immigrants from Third World countries.
The truth is many nations do not count any student but the top tier. We count them all, thus, bringing down the average score compared to other nations.
In 2005, the Chronicle of Higher Education raised the point that America’s brightest students in fact do measure up to their Indian or Chinese counterparts in technical and scientific endeavors.
"'The place where the science establishment misreads what's going on is that it implies it's always an education problem: Somehow Americans are not getting good schooling' in elementary and secondary schools, says Richard Freeman, a professor of economics at Harvard University. 'That's just nonsensical at one level. We have lots and lots of very bright people who could go into science and engineering who don't.'"
America's sharp students will go into sciences, math, and engineering if they are rewarded on a comparable level to a corporate lawyer conducting seminars for big business.
You know, the kind of conference where business is advised the best way to increase the number of visas for foreign workers rather than hiring American worker: It’s all legal. Entire departments in major law firms are showing big business how to get around the law or rather the spirit of the law and increase their visa quota for foreign workers.
Meantime, a recent CNN report by Miles O”Brien compared the numbers of scientists and engineers that China and India produced each year compared to the US. As the mainstream media usually does, O’Brien appears to depend on statistics provided by business to reach his conclusions. The facts of the matter are quite different than what CNN had to say or what Bill Gates and George W. Bush have been saying.
The multinationals report that the U.S. produces only 70,000 or so scientists or engineers per year. China graduates 600,000 and India 350,000.
A 2005, Duke University Study indicated industry and government co-conspirators compare apples and cabbages.
The Duke University study suggests statistical comparisons between numbers of engineers and scientists produced in China, India and the U.S. does not take into account powerful data suggesting quantity does not matter as much as quality. Even with fewer engineering grads, the United States produces significantly higher numbers of innovators, ergo those who can think out of the box, and creators and inventors.
The operational definition of an engineering degree in China, the U.S. and India are quite dissimilar. In truth, American-born grads in high tech areas are in line with our population when real numbers are compared.
USA: 222,335
India: 215,000
China: 644,106
China and India classify their grads with any kind of technical training and less than a four-year degree into the entire category of engineers and scientists they produce. (Duke's Pratt Engineering School: Framing the Engineering Outsourcing Debate by: Dr. Gary Gereffi and Vivek Wadhwa — Primary Student Researchers: Ben Rissing, Kiran Kalakuntla, Soomi Cheong, Qi Weng, Nishanth Lingamneni.)
As the man said, follow the money because idealism and poverty do not feed the bulldog. For arguments sake, let’s say we did have a shortage. Ever ask yourself why there is never a shortage of actors or lawyers?
In 2006, economist Robert Samuelson reported in The Washington Post the truth of our shortage of scientists and engineers in the U.S.: "Per million people, the United States graduates slightly more engineers with four-year degrees than China and three times as many as India. The U.S. leads are greater for lesser degrees."
Samuelson applies common sense to the primary factor behind any shortage of workers in any given field: "On average, American lawyers make 42 percent more than chemical engineers. At elite levels, huge pay gaps also exist. In 2005 the median starting salary for a new Harvard University MBA was $100,000. An MBA is a two-year degree. By contrast, a science or engineering Ph.D. can take five to 10 years, with a few years of "post-doc" lab work. At a Business Roundtable press briefing, one CEO said his company might start this sort of scientist at $90,000. Does anyone wonder why some budding physicists switch to Wall Street?"
A recent article in Nature reports the latest National Science Foundation survey, the number of American students enrolling in grad school for science and engineering is higher than ever. Nonetheless, many American companies are actually lobbying for an increase in temporary visas so that more foreigners can enter the scientific workforce-a change that Congress is currently considering. The lobbying effort is going on as I write this: It appears Satan and the anything-for-a buck multinationals never sleep. They also never cease looking to make a buck on the back of the American taxpayer/worker/citizen.
America is still producing creative, bright people willing to go into critical fields.
As of June 28, 2007, the State Science and Technology Institute summarized information from the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators Project on graduation levels in science and technology.
The NSF reports that from 2001 to 2005, the U.S. science and engineering graduate population increased by 11.5 percent over five years. Among states, Minnesota experienced the largest increase at 61.8 percent, rising from 6,602 students in 2001 to 10,685 in 2005. North Dakota, Alaska, Idaho and Hawaii rounded out the states with the largest percent increase, all over 30 percent. Of the states with a total S&E graduate student population over 10,000 in 2001, Ohio, Florida, California and North Carolina experienced increases over 15 percent. The average growth rate among the entities was 13.6 percent. (See http://creativeclass.typepad.com.)
The establishment corporate/government partnership dumps dirty pond water on our head and tells us it's raining. Perhaps it is past time for America to offer serious resistance, they will not stop until we do.
Most of America isn’t dumb or lazy: its political and economic leadership played high stakes geopolitical poker with its wealth and freedom. For that they deserve the 9th circle of hell.
Contact me at alden@newsmax.com.
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