Lee,
I was listening to the CNBC interview with the chairman of AMAT yesterday. Mark Haines asked the question about the increasing difficulties of finding good qualified workers. He said that AMAT did not have that problem since they were the industry leader, but he was aware that other companies are have increasing difficulties and there was a brief comment on the education in the U.S.
One of my friends is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Medical school, and he has complained that he has a tough time finding qualified American students for his doctorate and post-doctorate programs. Most of his students are non-Americans since they are few Americans who can qualify. In fact he only has 1 American student, all the rest are from Asia. He feels that is the case due to the lagging education system of the U.S.
From my own experience, I am aware that the high school math taught in the U.S. far lags that of what is taught in Europe and Asia. I have seen the ciriculum and what the math that is taught in 9-10 grade in the U.S. actually lags normal Asian ciriculum by as much as 3 years. The most advanced math ciriculum taught here is basicly what is taught as the norm elsewhere.
With time, and maybe not in our lifetime, I am not sure that the U.S. will always be in the lead of technological research, which could also have trickle down effect to other areas such as business.
It is evident already that the U.S. is already importing brains from overseas. Just look at the number of Indians/others who are in the computer industry. Yes, I realise that it they get paid much more here than in their home countries, but the cost to American companies is about the same as for American citizens when one calculates the sponsorship costs/etc. In the past there was an advantage to import brains due to cost but that has changed now since the supply of qualified people are dwindling in the U.S. I have friends who are making in the range of 60,000-100,000 right out of college/1-2 years
experience who are being sponsored by American Companies like IBM.
seeya |
