OPEN UNIVERSITY SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
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by Daniel Drezner
A periodic lament among institutions of higher learning since the September 11th attacks has been that the homeland security measures made it too difficult for foreign students to study in the United States. This is bad for two reasons: a) in some areas of study, like science and engineering, foreign students provide an important source of skilled labor, and b) Sayyid Qutb notwithstanding, one of the best ways the United States can improve its image abroad is to encourage more foreigners to spend a year or two in America.
It is therefore heartening to see that, according to the Council on Graduate Schools, there has been a recovery in international students attending U.S. graduate schools: "First-time enrollment increased by 4% in 2005, the first increase in four years."
4 comments
This sounds like good news but it prompts a question. Why arent't more Americans interested in those science and engineering skills? Are these the famous jobs Americans won't do?
- jacksonsher
September 15, 2006 at 12:02pm
So on my first day of grad school the head of our program asked us to raise our hands if we had gone into science because we thought it was the way we could make the most money. No hands were raised and everyone laughed. Granted, no one would want to answer a question like that in the affirmative, but people were still probably being honest. If you are qualified to go to a decent science grad school, you could certainly go to med school, or go into patent law, or even just go to Wall Street and make far more money. Americans are avoiding the sciences for reasons of supply and demand. The other factor is that American higher education is pretty flexible in allowing people to take classes in different things and to switch their areas of study midcourse. There is nothing wrong with this, but in order to get a science Ph.D. you basically have to start taking science classes in high school and stay on track through college. Law schools will take chemistry majors, figuring that they can be quickly reeducated to study law, but science grad schools will usually not take English majors. Thus, university systems that restrict you to the course of study you chose when you were 18 (i.e. just about everywhere outside the US) will prepare more people for science grad school.
- WillPastor
September 17, 2006 at 1:45pm
I think the reason foriegn grad students disproportionately study science and engineering is because it is easier to quantify science ability than say, sociology ability, so foriegners can distinguish themselves for American grad schools more easily. Also perfect knowledge of English is not required for science and engineering.
- WillPastor
September 17, 2006 at 1:48pm
I REALLY WANT TO GET MORE INFORMAYION ON OPEN UNIVERSITY AND ALSO TO KNOW IF IT IS THE WAY OF SCHOOLING
- onukwufor
January 28, 2007 at 2:04am