Reply to post: Re: “It's very bad for business, [..] unfair for our workers. We should end it.”

Re: “It's very bad for business, [..] unfair for our workers. We should end it.”

Pascal Monett noted:

Let America show what its educational system can do. Stop importing intelligence from abroad, use your own.

And therein lies the problem. PARTS of the American Educational system are outstanding (our "elite" tech schools, for instance).

The problem is, their output is limited. A good chunk of the REST of the system are utter and complete crap.

Case in point: a decade ago, I went back to get a Master's Degree in MIS (OK, I was checking off a box for HR so I could get promoted to the next level).

And I found two distinctly separate types of students.

The first were older students returning for grad work. Typically 30+, typically had nearly a decade, if not more, of "operational" experience in IT. And a surprising number of deployed soldiers (this was an online program). All were professional and competent in basic skills, and whatever their current specialty was. . .

The second, were people who had just gotten their undergrad degrees, and were continuing on to get a Masters. Not only did they lack tech skills, but could not write or argue coherently, and often could not even get basic grammar and spelling right, much less argue from evidence.

I remember, in particular, one student whose argument was that she FELT that her proposition was correct, and therefore we had to accept her statement at face value, despite a plethora of evidence pointing in another, almost completely opposite, direction. . .

I also see a lack of basic skills across the board in entry-level hires at work. . . but they have GREAT self-esteem.

And then I see SOME (ok, a few) of the H1b hires. Solid talent, solid skills. Just wish we had more American candidates like them. . .