[SATLUG] Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage

[Hector Bojorquez]

DAMN right Demeler!
And double goes for the state legislature...
Last go around they decided to "fund" T-STEM academies (Technology Science
Engineering Mathematics)- they funded 8 such academies across the state---
I've been involved with such initiatives before (in another lifetime)  and
they are always the same thing.. a way of saying "We're doing something"
instead of reforming or re-structuring an ENTIRE system.

I've worked with plenty of kids from all-sorts of socio-economic levels and
I never met a single one that wasn't Wowed or interested in science and
technology when taught right....and it pisses me off when the state doesn't
act like EVERY school should be doing something about it.




On 8/26/07, Borries Demeler <demeler at biochem.uthscsa.edu> wrote:
>
> >
> > What REALLY drives me crazy about this debate is that we are not
> educating
> > our kids (not to compete) to LEAD in the next century.
> > Our kids should not be thinking that they will be competing for tech
> > jobs that will inevitably be shipped out... they should be educated to
> be
> > innovators, researchers, and great technological thinkers.
> > And that's not happening.
>
> Here is what *is* happening:
>
> We struggle to get research funding for important research (NSF, NIH,
> etc...),
> only to educate foreigners. > 80% of all PHD graduate applicants are
> either
> from China, India, Pakistan, Japan or Europe. Domestic applicants in my
> field:
>
> 1. are outnumbered 9:1 by foreigners
> 2. are generally less well qualified than their foreign counterparts
> 3. if they are qualified, competition for them is fierce and other
> schools generally get first tab (Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, UC,
> Princeton, etc)
>
> We are lucky if we get any qualified candidates at all, foreign or not.
> If they are foreigners, we have to compete with industry. I just lost
> a very qualified postdoc from CHina because of H1B visa issues.
> My question: Why are we educating foreigners when scarce US government
> funding should be used to educate domestic students? Hint: read Hector's
> paragraph above....education starts in kindergarden. A typical example
> was the last local election when San Antonians (predictably) opted for
> the "lowering tax" candidate instead of boosting primary education.
> Arghh...
> -b.
> --
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