I guess it depends on what one studies, and whether or not the student is serious. I studied Computer Science, Physics, and Math. I didn't have much time for play. Up until the last five years or so, I had no trouble finding an appropriate job. If you read the articles on outsourcing and tallied the numbers, you would see that engineering jobs are indeed being outsourced merely for temporary relief on the bottom line.
Recently I saw an article that followed the prediction I made two years ago: The government would next outsource defense related R&D and engineering. They are now making these very deals with India. Now we will observe that India will develop advanced defense hardware, and we will be allowed to purchase the recently obsolete stuff. (Why, after all would the Indians provide their best to a foreign power?)
Listen!!
All you people that keep complaining that we are losing jobs because of our sorry education is just plain wrong.
American workers are the smartest and most productive of any workers in the world and that is a proven fact.
We are losing jobs because corporations are going after cheap labor. Hard to compete with an 88 cent per hour job in china no matter what your education level maybe.
I'm not totally discounting our education problems as I know we have them. However everything I have seen why we are losing higher paid jobs just has to do with corporations wanting cheap labor. US corporations that are home grown have no allegiance to the US workers or the US in any way.
It all comes down to the bottom line... profit.
"This may be far afield of our topic, but while we are on it...If American colleges and universities would not devote so many resources to "fun days," all Greek housing developments, goofy games (and other such distractions), a hundred different activist organizations that have nothing to do with education and the holy grail of every university: football and sports, then maybe students in the US could actually pick up some real education."
This is a small part of the problem. The big part is in the liberal arts curriculum, both the old and new parts. The old parts consist of programs offering degrees, such as social work, art history, and others for which there is no job market. The new part consists of programs such as gay studies, women's studies, multiculturalism, transgender sexuality, etc., again what the hell do you do with these degrees except attempt to convert others to your way of thinking?
I hate to say it, but many foreign students in the hard sciences, engineering, and math are on average, the better students because they work harder.
You are right on point. Colleges have become social and party centers, not centers of higher education. Some of these universities look like frikkin resorts with all the amenities they've got. Cut the "fun" stuff out and I'll bet you'd bring down the cost as well.
Do you honestly believe that this is the problem?
I know people who graduated from the leading universities ABROAD, moved to USA, had good jobs and were good at them, became citizens and now they CANNOT find a decent job. Maybe they should go back to their countries of origin where American corporations "export" the jobs?