Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amy J who wrote (180891)	1/18/2004 7:04:20 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574472

It also speaks to why so much of our technological innovation has moved down to San Diego. During the boom, the wireless entrepreneurs were getting ignored by Sand Hill crowd who had their eyes on "eyeball counting" rather than technology. Technology was a dirty word back then. It was common knowledge that tangibles (technology) was not Silicon Valley's area of interest so the entrepreneurs went south to San Diego, which is disappointing, because I wish they were all up here with me. There are though, some VCs that are still interested in hightech startups and these VCs bemoan the Valley's focus on Friendster.com and other non-technology based investments. Not that there's anything wrong with those kinds of firms, but they aren't a new technology that's going to produce lots of innovation we really need to spur the type of growth the Valley is used to. It's too bad the Valley lost out to San Diego in the wireless area. Wasn't the wireless move to San Diego as much about QCOM and AMCC being based there as opposed to anything else? After all, QCOM is a big company, generating a lot of critical mass. RE: "For the past month, I have been student teaching at a local middle school. I don't know if its representative of all middle schools but overall I find the quality of the teachers and cirriculum to be equal to the ones when I went to school........and I went to some of the best public schools in my city. Ninety five % of my hi school went on to some form of higher education." The better the school, the more foreigners. And there's a reason why. Overseas K12 schools are better. In my freshman year of college, I asked my school friends from HK, Taiwan, Indonesia, India etc., the specific details of their K12 courses offered during which years, to make a comparison to our K12 courses. Our school system is behind theirs by one year. I was upset about this. Especially since my 8th grade was a complete waste of time. The math they taught in 8th grade was stuff I already knew so it was completely redundant. Even then, I realized how the system was hurting people. I tried to get into the high school's 9th grade math course, but they couldn't find transport. Walking 10 miles wasn't an option. I tried walking once. Too dangerous. I didn't own a bike, because I was saving all my money for college (my parents had more than half a dozen children). If the school system had been forced to provide a 9th grade course to able students who were in 8th grade, I would have entered college with the identical background as my foreign competition. Plus I had three concurrent jobs and not the high paying jobs the Palo Alto high school city students get, so that meant even more double duty. So overall, our system puts the American student at a competitive disadvantage when they enter K12. I could go on and on about the differences. Even though my math is better than two of my brothers, all three of my brothers received fully paid scholarships and extra cash - but tbe scholarship was for men only (the scholarship program people didn't think it was appropriate for a female to live coed in the guy's dorm where scholarship students had to reside, though I pushed on this point and suggested an all girls dorm, but they said the scholarship program owned the building and only men live in it. I had suggested it be divided so both men and women could live in it. They were a bit insulted I asked - "no woman has ever asked us before" - as if I had asked the unspeakable. Good grief. Looking back, I'm surprised the college supported such a gender biased scholarship program. Meanwhile, the foreign students in undergrad college didn't work. (Not to be confused with foreign grad students, who statistically have to work.) I can't speak to the issues you raise. I never analyzed the subject as closely as you have. However, given your complaint, I suspect you will like a program that exists in WA state. Its called "Running Start". Kids in hi school can take college classes. In fact, there were several in my classes that I took last semester. They're hard to single out........they tend to be as mature if not more mature than the freshmen and sophomores. <g> However, it was great talking to them........as you can imagine, they had a much different perspective than the other students. But one leg up our schools have: America produces extremely creative students. How so? More so than the Japanese? A lot of the latest moves in pop culture/technology are coming out of Japan. One example is anime/animation. ted

To: Amy J who wrote (180891)	1/20/2004 3:47:32 AM
From: Joe NYC	Respond to of 1574472

Amy, In my freshman year of college, I asked my school friends from HK, Taiwan, Indonesia, India etc., the specific details of their K12 courses offered during which years, to make a comparison to our K12 courses. Our school system is behind theirs by one year. You are right. In measurable subjects such as math, physics etc. probably more than a year. I took a lot of math classes in my college as a way to get acclimated to American college (being a foreigner), and an easy way to get credits. Later I found out that my college offered "Challenge" exam, where you basically just go for the final. Since I had enough of acclimation, I challenged 2 semesters of Physics, which was basically my high school stuff, and I didn't even go to the best kind of high school (being foolish as a 14 year old, I didn't make the best choice of high school). Joe