Tales of a Subway Pundit:
As I was riding on the "El," on my way to school, I overheard a conversation between an older black gentleman and an older woman of indiscernable origin... Italian, perhaps. In any case, they were sitting behind me, and their conversation started something like this:
Woman: I hate it when people do that.
[I assume the man made some effort to see what she did.]
Woman: People who put their bags on the seat, so people can't sit down.
[He must have readjusted his bag, because she then said...]
Woman: Oh, not you... the guy across the way, there.
Man: Mm Hm...
Woman: And people don't say anything. They just stand there.
Man: Mm Hm...
Woman: There's no respect, no consideration. And people wonder why
this country's going to the dogs.
That's about the extent of my play-by-play memory recall, but at that point in their discussion, I had half a mind to turn around and tell them why I thought the country was going to hell. But then, I realized that she might just have a point, albeit a narrow, "old school" way of thinking about it.
Everyone's so damned concerned for themselves, nowadays. Hardly any consideration is paid to anyone else, unless they provide some sort of gratification—sex, money or both. By this, of course, I'm referring to significant others and bosses. America is so self absorbed these days. No one cares about nor wants to do anything for anyone else. And I believe it's reflected in our economy.
How many MBAs are there? How many lawyers? Doctors? Now, I don't think that having these people is bad... but how many of them are just chasing the American Capitalist "Ideal?" Now, when I use the word Capitalist, I'm not using it in a socio-communist sort of way... I'm referring to the love of money that many of us suffer from. What ever happened to civic duty? I know some people become lawyers or doctors to help people... but the skeptic in me says the majority are just looking to line their coffers. Has anyone ever seen the Farscape episode entitled "Dream a Little Dream?"
We are losing our footing in the global economy, especially technologically. Where are the engineers? Where are the scientists? China produces more than 250,000 engineering graduates a year—India, over 350,000. We, by comparison, produce between 76- and 78,000... and many of them are foreign nationals. In the recent past, the foreign students would usually stay in the U.S., but with the rapidly progressing economies in their homelands, many foreign students are repatriating after receiving their degrees. If this continues, we will become even more of a consumer economy than we already are.
What is to be done? We're not going to bar foreign students from studying in the States—not that I think we should, mind you. We need citizens from our own country to take an interest in aspects that allow us to develop new technologies, whether they be for the betterment of human life, the environment or even our standing in the global economy. How is this to be accomplished? We could assign majors to students upon completion of some sort of aptitude test...
No, wait... that's no good.
We need to make these fields more appealing, somehow... but stating the facts, and saying it's going to help us keep up in the world won't do it. People want to know what's in it for them.
So, in a way, being selfish could lead to the ruination of our country.
Getting back to my impromptu couple on the train, they took the next logical step in human discourse, and moved into political conversation. The man said something in support of Bush, which [thankfully] I didn't hear. She then said something along the lines of "Oh, I wish you hadn't said that!" And they debated calmly the pros and cons of the Bush administration for a couple of minutes. As far as I could tell, the gentleman's basis for supporting Bush was the he loved this country.
So do the rest of us [mostly]. Does that make us good presidents, too?
They then made some of the usual comparisons and analyses:
That is all.
Woman: I hate it when people do that.
[I assume the man made some effort to see what she did.]
Woman: People who put their bags on the seat, so people can't sit down.
[He must have readjusted his bag, because she then said...]
Woman: Oh, not you... the guy across the way, there.
Man: Mm Hm...
Woman: And people don't say anything. They just stand there.
Man: Mm Hm...
Woman: There's no respect, no consideration. And people wonder why
this country's going to the dogs.
That's about the extent of my play-by-play memory recall, but at that point in their discussion, I had half a mind to turn around and tell them why I thought the country was going to hell. But then, I realized that she might just have a point, albeit a narrow, "old school" way of thinking about it.
Everyone's so damned concerned for themselves, nowadays. Hardly any consideration is paid to anyone else, unless they provide some sort of gratification—sex, money or both. By this, of course, I'm referring to significant others and bosses. America is so self absorbed these days. No one cares about nor wants to do anything for anyone else. And I believe it's reflected in our economy.
How many MBAs are there? How many lawyers? Doctors? Now, I don't think that having these people is bad... but how many of them are just chasing the American Capitalist "Ideal?" Now, when I use the word Capitalist, I'm not using it in a socio-communist sort of way... I'm referring to the love of money that many of us suffer from. What ever happened to civic duty? I know some people become lawyers or doctors to help people... but the skeptic in me says the majority are just looking to line their coffers. Has anyone ever seen the Farscape episode entitled "Dream a Little Dream?"
We are losing our footing in the global economy, especially technologically. Where are the engineers? Where are the scientists? China produces more than 250,000 engineering graduates a year—India, over 350,000. We, by comparison, produce between 76- and 78,000... and many of them are foreign nationals. In the recent past, the foreign students would usually stay in the U.S., but with the rapidly progressing economies in their homelands, many foreign students are repatriating after receiving their degrees. If this continues, we will become even more of a consumer economy than we already are.
What is to be done? We're not going to bar foreign students from studying in the States—not that I think we should, mind you. We need citizens from our own country to take an interest in aspects that allow us to develop new technologies, whether they be for the betterment of human life, the environment or even our standing in the global economy. How is this to be accomplished? We could assign majors to students upon completion of some sort of aptitude test...
No, wait... that's no good.
We need to make these fields more appealing, somehow... but stating the facts, and saying it's going to help us keep up in the world won't do it. People want to know what's in it for them.
So, in a way, being selfish could lead to the ruination of our country.
Getting back to my impromptu couple on the train, they took the next logical step in human discourse, and moved into political conversation. The man said something in support of Bush, which [thankfully] I didn't hear. She then said something along the lines of "Oh, I wish you hadn't said that!" And they debated calmly the pros and cons of the Bush administration for a couple of minutes. As far as I could tell, the gentleman's basis for supporting Bush was the he loved this country.
So do the rest of us [mostly]. Does that make us good presidents, too?
They then made some of the usual comparisons and analyses:
"Carter was the most honest man, but wasn't the best President..."
"Clinton, while questionable in his private life (or what-have-you), was quite a good leader, and did well for the country..."The gentleman again started to talk about why he was in support of Bush, and I was quite thankful that my stop had come.
That is all.
posted by gcolbath @ 2:42 PM
7 Comments:
All signs lead back to the current state of the American Public Education System. Students lose interest in fascinating science and technology fields because their first encounters are somewhat lackluster due to inexpertise of their teachers. Now, this is not a comment against teachers, but rather just the opposite. Teachers are on the whole underpaid, which leads to a teacher shortage and then unqualified teachers teaching upper-level courses just for lack of anyone else.
I'm always surprised at the number of my college students who tell me that mine is the first math class where they've actually learned something, and now they realize that math is really quite interesting. Of course, many of these same students have told me that they are going into business or similarly lucrative fields because "that's where the money is."
More than anything, engineers, scientists, and mathematicians are problem-solvers and adaptable. These are skills that will never be outsourced.
In response to last of the writ's comment:
Well, while I have to say that argument seems a little superficial ("Let's all do what the flashing idiot box says we should."), I applaud your addressing a critical point I missed: outsourcing.
What can be done about this trend? It's true... with all that labor overseas, it's quite natual (from a busines standpoint) that outsourcing is practiced. Cost of living in this country has gotten out of hand... but that's a discussion for another time, perhaps.
I agree with Boudicca, in that these subjects aren't presented in a particularly attractive manner, and that perhaps part of the solution would be to better our educational system... but this has been an issue for quite some time, now.
But, last of the writ, from your comments, it would seem you missed the point of my post—it wasn't about the career choices that people make, but that a critical component of economic viability is fading away in our culture. I for one, am a huge fan of free will... but I also feel like doing something to help out my fellow citizens. I've chosen design, which does, admittedly, come with a decent paycheck and allows for enjoyment and social interaction, and what-have-you.
But I was also perfectly happy working the overnight shift at a ski resort—backbreaking labor, at times... not to mention you sleep during normal operating times of most human beings. I enjoyed the comraderie I devleoped at that job... but I knew I was helping my local economy by allowing the skiing industry there to operate.
So, the point of my rant was this: we're losing our place in the global economy, and something needs to be done to remedy it. Perhaps some sort of incentive for becomming an engineer, or something. Maybe the way in which activities in these fields are conducted could be altered so as to accomodate needs for social interaction. These jobs don't need to be boring and unattractive. Also, people need to start thinking for themselves more, and about themselves less.
Gaufridus,
I think you're dead on. The social virtues and the economic virtues should be on the same team. The economy cannot function without a healthy society, and society cannot be healthy without a strong economy. Preach on!
I agree with Boudicca for the most part, and also agree that the fault doesn't lay with the teachers of these subjects, but with the method used.
Understandably, primary school teachers must give students a foundation in the known facts of math and science, but the way in which this is generally taught in America involves telling rather than discovery. This creates an arena where non-intuitive ideas of how the world works at is basest level are not questioned or fully understood, but must simply be accepted. Also, and I don't know how it was for the rest of you, but where I went to school (Texas and Oklahoma) Physics was the FINAL science course taken. It was also the first where I got an understanding of why things are instead of simply that "they are." Now, I know that a decent deal of math is involved in physics, and that it can be dry in certain circumstances (it didn't hurt me that my physics teacher was the science equivelent of Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society), but it's ABSOLUTELY neccesary to understand everything else beyond it.
When Mr. Meador (the aforementioned saint of a teacher) first introduced us to his class, he drew up a heirarchy. MATH was at the top, in all caps, as the God and Father of all empirical knowledge. Directly below math was physics. From Phyiscs grew chemistry, with it's children Biology and Geology, but also Quantum Physics, Accoustics, and Electrical science, all as the offspring of Physics and an understanding of math. It's the basis for everything we've learned, so why do we learn it last? This isn't Scientology, after all.
I read an article recently, that I would link to if I could find it, which outlined a guest teacher's use of Socratic Method to teach a room of average third graders the binary system. She did nothing but ask leading questions the whole time, and out of the class of thirty, all but three students had fully gotten - by themselves, really - by the end of the half-hour lecture. The kids can understand higher subjects far better than they do in the way they are currently taught. Again, it's not the fault of the teachers, who are doing everything they can, but rather the accepted methods, particularly now, with teach-to-the-test being the best way for them to continue to teach at all.
Physics shouldn't be a course at the end of the line for science - it should be in every course before anything further is learned. Math shouldn't be a series of equations, but a series of epiphanies. The majority of American students, I'm sure, view Math and Science as things that you learn, not as things that you do. I'm not in a scientific field. I work in T.V. production primarily, but even that is nothing but frantic problem-solving, which I surely didn't pick up in English or History, as much as I loved those classes. The point is two-fold. One, Math and Science are essential, even for seemingly unrelated fields, and Two, kids don't choose their careers simply for the money unless they lack focus. This country is giving up thousands of Nobel winners a year because it can't make Math and Science engaging. We need to teach these subjects in a way that makes them about discovery and innovation - not about memorizing atomic weights and "proving" the boing point of water.
BRAVO!
Well put. Thinking back... I think that's the core problem to what I was talking about: lack of focus. It seems, nowadays, the creedo is: "When in doubt, go for the money." Lack of focus... brilliant!
All other points were excellent, too!
I think what Bookie is trying to say is this: We need to put MacGuyver back in primetime.
As for supply and demand, we've got more law students and business students than the economy can carry, but as they're generally American, we pick the cream of the American crop. With scientists and engineers, we need more than we've got, and so we outsource to countries who've got more than they need. Of course, cost issues come into play, but Cato knows infinitely more about that than I do, so I'll leave that analysis to him (or to anyone else who understands international finance better than I do.)
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