[A. Pole]

We had to turn to engineers who came here from India and the Middleeast. Meanwhile in the USA, we have high schools that produce kids ready to become environmentalists, diversity consultants, and democratic party campaign operatives.

Which is the cause and which is the result?

[Happy2BMe]

You have heard of the "Dumbing Down" of America, right?

[neutrino]

Meanwhile in the USA, we have high schools that produce kids ready to become environmentalists, diversity consultants, and democratic party campaign operatives.

I had to laugh at this quotation. Truth be told, our high schools produce kids who are ready for...nothing. Our colleges aren't much better at the Freshman and Sophomore level. The simplest math (i.e., basic algebra) is well beyond them. Basic English exceeds their capabilities, even with all the tools that Microsoft Word provides. And they are so very satisfied with their profound ignorance.

Foreign students studying in US schools generally work a lot harder than our US students. A further point - US based BS. and BA degrees are generally perceived as being of less value than a great many offshore degrees.

The problem is that we've decided to do a lot of social work with education that does nothing to prepare the students for working in a global marketplace. Affirmative action is one small element. The idea that everyone should have the opportunity for higher education is another. The distribution curve dictates that most people are not capable to master advanced concepts - one winds up wasting limited resources on them, or lowers standards so that anyone who can convert oxygen to carbon dioxide can succeed. We're doing both. So on the one hand, we need to promote fair trade instead of free trade - but on the other hand, we need to realize that some children WILL be left behind.

[Redcloak]

I'm always amused by your quaint view of economics. There's a reason why students are ready to become "environmentalists, diversity consultants, and democratic party campaign operatives" rather than engineers. That's because there's someone else willing to pay them to be "environmentalists, diversity consultants, and democratic party campaign operatives". It's that ol' supply and demand thingee you crypto-socialists have so much trouble with.