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| Europe |
| Subtle, ever subtle...... |
| 2004-05-03 |
| Last week I was in Poland, doing the good work of empire. There, I had access to only BBC and some travel channel, my languages being limited to English, Canadian and American. Good that I loaded up blogs, before leaving. After three or four days of the Beeb, I returned to Central Region surprised to find the Republic still intact. Today, I picked up the IHT, a wholly owned sub of the NYT. Front page article: Americans are seen losing their scientific edge Third paragraph, slipped in for European consumption: Europe and Asia are ascendant, analysts say, even if their achievements go unnoticed in the self-absorbed United States. Now, the NYT repackages its articles, and ships them to the IHT. The original read: "The rest of the world is catching up," said John E. Jankowski, a senior analyst at the National Science Foundation, the federal agency that tracks science trends. "Science excellence is no longer the domain of just the U.S." Expecting to catch them (Leftonistas) with their pants down is one thing. Expecting them to pull them down themselves is another. Those who can, do. Those who can’t...are probably European. Wonder how far Mr. Orkent’s brief is? |
| Posted by:beets |
| #13 My read on the article is completely different. My brother is a proffesor at a US university. He has about a dozen grad students working on projects under him , and as far as I can recall non-Americans have always formed a majority (at least 15 years). For at least a generation, America in a largely unsung act of generosity, has trained most of the world's best scientists and engineers. We are now seeing the result of that effort. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-05-03 9:59:47 PM |
| #12 Where I live in East Tennessee my child was not allowed to take classes beyond her grade level. There were no Gifted programs. I was told "It would lower the self esteem of the children who were not as smart". I asked "What the hell do you think it's doing to my child to have to go along at the slowest child's pace? She was bored stiff and constantly got in trouble. You were lucky, Cyber Sarge. I agree with Anonymoose. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2004-05-03 9:49:14 PM |
| #11 #7, I teach at the US Military Academy. Our cadets are all required to take a fair amount of science, math and at a minimum some basic engineering courses ... those who major in an engineering discipline are proud to note that USMA is ranked in the top 5 US engineering schools who don't have PhD programs. We do have some concerns about the state of science and math teaching in the US, as does DOD. The latter is particularly concerned about attracting students to major in these fields and go on to advanced degrees and some work is being done to revamp curriculum materials to take advantage of simulations, immersive environments (virtual reality) etc. for these fields. It's in the R&D stage right now .... I've taught the incoming freshmen and teach the seniors right now. We do a fairly good job of getting them to think in linear logic, but it's an uphill battle against a culture dominated by Sesame Street -> MTV bits of this and that input, rather than extended reasoning with more abstract ideas. Those who have taught longer than I (I come from industry) say that is definitely a bigger problem now than 20 yrs ago .... |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-05-03 7:08:51 PM |
| #10 As a parent of a gifted child I can safely say that some school districts DO identify bight students and offer them a chance to grow worked fur me! |
| Posted by: HalfEmpty 2004-05-03 6:31:42 PM |
| #9 ap ima here mucki is in apotasty |
| Posted by: HalfEmpty 2004-05-03 6:30:31 PM |
| #8 As a parent of a gifted child I can safely say that some school districts DO identify bight students and offer them a chance to grow. We MAY have some dysfunctional school systems in the U.S. but they are the minority. Of course I live in the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia and maybe we do things differently. My child was Identified as gifted by the State tests and was entered into a program that challenges him. All this while he remains in the same grade structure. He remains in his fifth grade class but takes 6th grade Math and Science, and takes other subjects with his peers. In most of the European and Asian countries my son would be remaining in the same class for all subjects. He may invent something that destroys the world but failing that the Empire is safe. LONG LIVE BUSH II! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-05-03 6:04:30 PM |
| #7 I pretty well with 'moose #1. Some comments of my own: The teacher's union (particular the powerful NEA) wants to enrich its membership in general and its leadership in particular. This is the way with all unions. A little over a decade ago I'd have said that the US universities are where students caught up, and in certain disciplines, even surpassed the rest of the world. I'm not so certain now since I haven't followed the state of science and engineering education at that level in a long time. (Any closet academics in the house?) On Rome: Just like it wasn't built in a day, Rome didn't fall immediately. Once the Pope emerged from the city and persuaded the invaders to pass by. Remind anyone of anybody we know today? Eventually, though, the Roman Emperor in the West left power--"I abdicate"--and Odoacer took over. And about 1000 years later, the Eastern Empire at Constantinople fell to the turks. Hopefully the US will fall later. Somehow I doubt we'll get 1000 years, though. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-05-03 5:17:47 PM |
| #6 I think a driver here is that hard science doesn't lend itself well to a multicultural approach. Some bridges stand up; some bridges fall down, and it's not especially helpful to observe that the engineers who designed the bridge that fell down brought their own unique cultural perspective to the design process. |
| Posted by: Matt 2004-05-03 4:55:52 PM |
| #5 Bulldog, Priceless. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-05-03 4:53:11 PM |
| #4 Hey, Mucky old pal, are you still converted to the RoP? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-05-03 4:39:09 PM |
| #3 Visagoth? Did Kelly got hold of Ozzy's plastic again? |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-05-03 4:23:11 PM |
| #2 rome not destroy by vocano. that was pompei. visagoth destroy rome. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-05-03 4:18:11 PM |
| #1 Well, US education is at a disadvantage when schools can no longer teach "hands-on" science, from fear of some contingency lawyers' liability suits. And when state and federal bureaucrats keep mandating more and more waste into their curriculums, such as pop psychology exams, diversity and sensitivity courses. And when religious fundamentalists don't want science taught at all because if it isn't in THE book, is isn't worth teaching. (Doesn't even matter which book.) And when a racist and secessionist organization such as MeCha is encouraged to recruit and indoctrinate Hispanic students in schools. And when the teachers' unions are indifferent to educating children, in favor of supporting political agendas that have nothing to do with education. And when textbook makers produce books that are so profoundly inoffensive and sterile that they are useful for nothing more than recycled-paper doorstops. And when Chinese students who already hold advanced degrees come to enroll in post-graduate programs, pushing out prospective American undergraduates, and racially "purifying" entire programs. And when Universities intentionally recruit minority students with insufficient SATs, taking them from schools where they could have excelled and putting them in schools where the average student has a 20-30 SAT point average over them--almost guaranteeing failure--because they only care about diversity in admissions, not graduation. Gee, this list just keeps getting longer and longer... Well, sooner or later the sins of the past catch up with you. "It's like the Roman Empire. Wasn't everybody running around just covered with syphilis? And then it was destroyed by the volcano." --Joan Collins |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-05-03 3:54:44 PM |