Crushed by the East

For those of you attending college, I am sure that you are aware of the vast diversity that these places have to offer. You can find people of all races and backgrounds at these institutions of higher learner striving to better themselves. While everyone has a right to an education, there comes into play the question of when to draw the line on diversity.

When you go to most colleges but especially colleges that focus more on research than education, you find that many of your fellow students may not even be American. Rather, these students come from all over the world but mostly from India, China, and South Korea. They’re most prevalent in the math and sciences but oddly enough I see a good number in communications (kind of like my major) as well. The point though is that a large portion of students may not have even been born here.

The United States is in a crisis right now and we face a slew of problems with no straightforward answer. Sure we have problems with our market, our military, amongst other things, but I see no greater threat to our future than our education.

The system is still designed to screw students over again and again. Students are expected to pay large sums of cash for books and are then given scam prices when resold back to the bookstores. Of course the book stores will sell them at the same ridiculous price as before. No one though has yet cried foul on this unbelievably disgraceful act thrown at our students. Don’t even get me started on how students need to take out thousands of dollars in loans from the banks. You all should be well aware of the state in which our banks are in now.

No where else in the industrialized world is higher education seen as a privilege rather than a right like that in America. We are being beaten by the East and even by the Europeans in topics years ago we were masters in. We have a mentality that the 3rd world follows for crying out loud in that the smartest and most educated end up being the richest! Major scientists are no longer stereo-typically seen as Russian or American but rather Indian or Chinese. I’ve read up on how college works in the East and it is ridiculously hard. Even though it is hard, this method ensures the top notch students are given the opportunity to achieve greatness and are given these opportunities by the state.

So what do we have here in the United States? We have here a system that favors the wealthy attending the best colleges. Even for those extremely profound in their talents and are given scholarships, their full potential can never be reached. These kids may be given free rides at some colleges, but can’t get into amazing colleges such as Harvard because as usual money becomes an issue. This wouldn’t even be likely to happen if that student was living in the East.

This brings me back to my main point. American universities continue to screw over American students, yet these students from abroad are often enticed with free rides and scholarships to come here and study/research.

How can we hope to match the rest of the world when of all things we are teaching them how to beat us? A good number of these people have no intention of living in the United States for a long period of time. Come graduation or when their research is done, they return to their country where the state will take full advantage of what the Americans have given to them. An American diploma is guaranteed to get anyone a job back in the motherland. It is bad enough that we fund China’s GDP each year by importing their products but we’re even helping their students prosper as well!

So what does America get back in return? I don’t know. I know the universities are able to say that they’ve accomplished so much because one of the important things of these institutions is to maintain a good image. That way more students will come and spend their money to get an education there. No one says anything about how those accomplishments were done by foreigners rather than our own kids.

It isn’t to say that our kids aren’t at fault as well. Simply put, the math and sciences are not being given enough attention here. Rather the Liberal Arts are where most American students tend to stray towards. I once sat in on an Indian friend of mine’s organic chemistry class. As I expected, the room was filled with Asians who spoke their native language and spoke English with an accent. The number of whites there was OK I suppose. The lack of Hispanics was pathetic but I will happily note that there were a good number of blacks there. Asians vastly outnumbered every other racial category though.

It seems that with the USSR gone, the demand for better technology has grown lax and we’ve let other countries do the work for us. In place of the sciences, people have taken an interest in making hobbies out of careers and we’ve endorsed that for some reason. It almost shames me to think that my major journalism is considered a liberal arts major right alongside comparative literature. Journalism and the media actually serve an important purpose within society. All students do in comparative literature classes is read and analyze books. How is that going to better America?! At least a good number of American students still major in marketing. Money makes the world go around!

Don’t get me wrong. Everyone deserves an education but in all honesty America is screwing itself over by placing priority away from American students. China will surpass us thanks to their future generations which will have been taught by our professors. If America wishes to change that from happening we need some major adjustments in the school system. I’m looking at you Obama. Make this happen before it is too late.