Saturday, October 24, 2009

What's wrong with America

If you ask me the biggest wrong with America after Wall Street greed is the archaic, bureaucratic and expensive education system that has continuously failed to live up to the demands of new American economy led by technology and healthcare companies.

India on the other hand has hundreds of schools offering current Computer/ IT courses at prices Indians can afford, churning tens of thousands of qualified Indians every month. So US companies have to shop or set-up shop abroad for skilled staff since there aren't enough qualified Americans with up-to-date knowledge application skills, hence the large number of foreigners in Redmond - obviously foreign education systems are good enough for trend setting companies.

Elite US Colleges are too busy chasing Nobel Prizes arguably transcending the mundane for pursuit of knowledge, but still elitist and pompous since they do not let their knowledge flow freely to lift the masses out of this hellish morass of misery which US is because US doesn't know anymore how to compete and these colleges don't teach US how to compete.

While the non elite colleges are busy trying to become elite forgetting that the basic reason for education is to equip and prepare students to succeed.

Most at risk are American kids because they are not being adequately prepared to compete with their foreign born and educated counterparts for basic technology jobs that pay $30-100 per hour middle-class wages.

American Colleges are directly responsible for the failure of the nation to produce the required programmers and nurses and the decline in American middle class. Bellevue College, WA charges $3,400 + the cost of electives for a Project Manager Certificate course. An Indian can learn that same course for a quarter of that cost.

Education is too expensive in America and traditionally out of reach for average American. High School was good enough in good old days, BUT NOT ANYMORE.  American colleges have no sense of sensible spending. Their campuses are ostentatious, they overpay their staff,  and despite huge endowments give little to welfare of America, yet lose billions on Wall Street. American Education System seems to be an extension of the Wall Street - greedy and unconcerned about the average American.

Like everything else Education too has to be globally price competitive or more and more Americans will be left behind.

The President should do something directly to help America by helping Americans acquire new world skills. He should subsidize continuing, technical, vocational education.

Following suit Bellevue College should make knowledge affordable so the unemployed in the State feel they have hope rather than hopelessly wait to be stampeded by foreign educated foreigners.

1 comment:

rushit said...

I think american dont know or dont what to know how to take short way like indian's who get education through donetion's and becom so call IT expert......no offence