Washblog

when I was working as a Family Development Specialist in Bellevue, WA.  At the time I was hearing it (Microsoft wants more American students trained in math/science as is having to hire out of country) my script was that going to Bellevue Community College and taking the math/science courses was almost a guaranteed job/career at Microsoft even before graduating.

Perhaps I was snookered, lied to, bamboozled then, but I believed that the shortages of education ready American prospects for Microsoft were a new phenomenom.  In forgiveness of myself (I am so naive sometimes), it was the beginning years of the trend that would become 'outsourcing'.

General Paul Eaton video, May 2007If Pres. Bush Won't Listen, Congress Must

by Lietta Ruger on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 07:56:33 AM PST

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People who can't afford four year colleges here in the U.S. need to look seriously at foregin colleges: don't buy the koolaid that U.S. colleges are the best at everything.

If you find a good college in a foreign country you're perhaps more likely to find it focused on teaching fundamentals and theory... as opposed to using teaching to subsidize research, and coursework so woven to commercial offerings that large parts of what is taught are technical school skills with a short shelf life.

But wait, there's more:

• it will cost less
  
• the cost of living will be less
  
• you have the opportunity to learn a foreign language and culture
  
• you have the opportunity to make important foreign business connections without intermediation
  
• your presence is as likely to be greatly respected as it is to be suspected by your hosts.

If I knew in 1980 what I know today I would have done it back then.

I have been aware (like Lietta) of this issue for almost a decade (I recall Ed Yourdon writing something about a facet of it nearly that long ago) and concerned about it for nearly as long; so my theoretical vantage on it is considerably advanced from a single issue.

Therefore, notwithstanding the earnestness with which I make the proposition above I also observe that in the context of the intellectual mercantilism of today it has strong parallels with earlier colonial mercantilism.

by m3047 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 08:51:35 AM PST

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Well he's right in one sense- education needs to be available to everyone everywhere- but an education is not made up of science and math in this country, it is made up of english (or whatever the language of the country might be) history, sociology, math, science, and more in every country in the world.  What we need to do is support the Global Poverty Act and make it possible for people to recieve equal opportunities to learn everywhere.

by KatieL on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 09:51:20 AM PST

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I am appalled at the fact that Sen. Patty Murray  and Sen. Kennedy feel that it's in the BEST interest of America, that we allow millions of high tech workers to flood the job market. This will do to high tech jobs what illegal aliens have done to lower ones. How can my daughter even think about going to a engineering school when by the time she completes the course, this unlimited visas idea would have taken away most of the jobs and lowered the pay by 25% to 35%? But there they sat behind Chairman Bill Gates, he of wishing for unlimited H1-B visas.  The Government has already lost track of thousands of visa holders. Seems they be using the phrase "It's a (insert job name here) that Americans won't do" on every job in the US?  

HOW is this good for America ?

But it must be true that it doesn't matter if you are Democrat or Republican, it's all about the corporate dollars.  

by MDS508 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 10:04:58 AM PST

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Perhaps the largest barrier to a quality education is the quality of the teachers. This country, with its insistence to test the comprehensive, but low-level ability of students, finds itself with mediocre students learning from mediocre teachers.

This is two pronged:
First, with the emphasis on "the test," teachers are stuck into a bureaucratic protocol of what "should be" taught in schools. Teachers and students no longer can find their niche interest and use that as a catalyst for learning. New teachers don't want to teach to a the book in public schools, they want to teach in a creative, individualized/specialized learning environment of private schools.

Second, WE DON'T PAY TEACHERS ENOUGH. Who wants to go to college and grad school for six years, learn the amazing wonders of the world, jump into a high-paying career of engineering, then resort to an 80% pay cut to teach in a poor environment that doesn't even cherish their specialized knowledge and experience in the world.

Bill Gates is right that this country doesn't do enough to train and embrace our skilled engineers. It is in his interest to provoke this debate. However, he's smug to assume that it is only engineers. You wonder why we are stuck with Bush and Co, a strategic disaster of a war, and MalWart? It's because we don't train our people; we don't give them a foothold on the complexity and beauty of the world; and we certainly don't embrace their individualized interests and skills. This is training in everything: engineering, science, biology, music, political theory, sports, compassion, love, you name it. This is why America is lagging behind the world on every imaginable playing field.

*Whew, thanks for letting me rant :)

by JesseNelson on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 11:57:01 AM PST

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get hired at microsoft?

IF you are 19 and finishing your doctorate at MIT or CAL Tech or ... OR

you are some well connected ivy b-school putz,

o.k.

otherwise, prostrate yourself and tell the interviewers how brilliant the little sun king is and how brilliant the sun king's managers are and how THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE IS TO kiss, I mean worship, at their feet.

unless you are an h1-b, which means you went to some of the best schools in china or india AND

you are here for 3 to 6 years before you can get a green card AND

you can't breath sideways or your employer can ship your ass back in a heartbeat.

I'm actually for letting 'these people' in - they are really really good, and it is a loss to their country. HOWEVER, let them in on green cards so that employers, especially cheap selfish power hungry pricks like gates, gotta pay people market.

As far as americans losing jobs ... look on the internet fools !

look at the jobs and look at the skills and look in the mirror.  

Leave It To Beaver is over => just breathing
AND getting a degree !!!
AND then getting a white collar job
AND then getting a career !!
AND then getting a pension ...

wake the fuck up. it isn't 1957.

rmm.  

http://www.liemail.com/BambooGrassroots.html

by rmdSeaBos on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 11:28:44 PM PST

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