As US Schools Prioritize Diversity over Merit, China Is Becoming the Stem Leader | Hacker News Reader

As US Schools Prioritize Diversity over Merit, China Is Becoming the Stem Leader

quillette.com

50 pointstemp89649 comments

The article lists multiple reasons for the downward trend in STEM proficiency yet the headline attributes it solely to a push for diversity.

One thing not clear: Would an average American benefit much if the US became “the STEM leader”?

H1B Will still be cheaper

US kids have parents who have watched MBAs lay off engineers and scientists.

> . In a 2015 survey conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools and the Graduate Record Examinations Board, about 55 percent of all participating graduate students in mathematics, computer sciences, and engineering at US schools were found to be foreign nationals. In 2017, the National Foundation for American Policy estimated that international students accounted for 81 percent of full-time graduate students in electrical engineering at U.S. universities; and 79 percent of full-time graduate students in computer science.

Of course. We don't charge enough taxes to make school free, and universities are increasingly capitalist ventures that hire as few professors as possible and pay sessional instructors peanuts. There's no jobs for PhDs, an even an MS is absolutely overkill for most work and horrifically expensive. So universities make their money off foreign kids. Duh. Is it diversity, or dead simple economics?

Economics does not explain high percentage of international students in PhD programs, which are mostly sponsored with research / teaching assistantship.

It does, though. What's the economic incentive for an American to get a PhD? RA/TA positions are not exactly lucrative. In most places, they're barely above the poverty line. Do that 'til you're 30-ish. Now, you can go for a postdoc position and make below median income for several years to earn an opportunity to become a professor at 35. Finally, you're making slightly more than the median, but in a "publish or perish" atmosphere or you won't get tenure.

Compare that to the economic incentive for an international student. You're on a work visa, so you literally cannot work anywhere but the university. If you finish your degree, you get points towards immigration. Or, save every penny, because that below-median salary is mad cash in your home country and you're accustomed to a humble lifestyle, and your American degree is worth its weight in gold when you return home.

In the context of my comment, incentive means incentive of the university. I do agree most of what you said.

When there's a shortage of faculty applicants to top US schools, then I'll take note.

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