All true, but China has a huge surplus of STEM graduates. Many of them are unemployed or unemployed.
Remember that the commie government drives people into these majors and then allocates jobs afterward. It is hardly a free market.
And there's no accounting for the quality of those degrees. In the US, we see the very best China has to offer. We also get the cream of the crop from Europe, Latin America, and the rest of Asia. It gives the false impression that these peoples are geniuses and we are a bunch of dolts.
The best educated people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Korea, Colombia, etc. are from their ELITE UPPER CLASS. They are extremely bright people, but they never faces any real competition and never had any disadvantages to overcome.
The vast majority of these underdeveloped populations are barely literate.
With a population of 1.3 billion people, China could fill every engineering, math, and computer science job in the US.
For the same reason, larger countries tend to field much better Olympic teams - a larger population to draw superior athletes from.
I don't think we undersubsidize STEM majors as much as we oversubsidize BS majors. We would have better programs in STEM if we didn't divert resources away from it.
I am a proponent for the liberal arts. We do, indeed, need Sociologists. We just don't need many of them.
As I have posted before, when I studied electronic engineering in the UK, 50% of our class (120 people on the first year) were from the People's Republic of China, 25% of them were from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh; the British component was just 10% of the class; we had 7 girls (out of 120 students), only three of which were Western (2 British, 1 Spanish)...
Meanwhile, the sociology department was 95%-100% white, 80% female... and the 'Dance' and 'Arts' BA programmes were about the same...
When I moved to Canada for postgraduate studies, the Computer Science Department was 70% 'Asian' (the rest being east Europeans and 2 or 3 'Canadian' spotty nerds - they will not be leaders any time soon-), whilst the Sociology and Psychology Departments were 95% white...
Guess how many 'Western' Canadian 'graduates' I have seen working at McDonalds/Tim Horton's/Leon's furniture [a fair few], then guess what is the percentage of 'Asian' accountants/doctors/engineers in downtown Toronto (about 25%-40%, more like 50% in Vancouver -where I am right now-; good luck finding a 'white' doctor or a native Canadian computer wizard in most Canadian cities)...
... and we wonder why the Chinese are edging ahead in technology, whilst in the West we are tangled in 'human rights', 'people's feelings', 'environmental red-tape' and assorted BS...
China turns out engineers like the West turns out sociologists. And the bastards don't give a shit about copyright either so they happily reverse engineer everybody else's designs and them manufacture them cheaply and undercut the original product.
Cap, do you think that this will lead to a devaluing of engineering degrees in the West (since they cannot compete with the Chinese).
Also, if I wanted to teach myself economics (including the mathematics) what would be the best book to start with
About 1/3 of the engineers I work with are Chinese. All are very book smart, but most can't communicate, have no creativity, and lack any sort of common sense. All they can do is regurgitate facts and copy copy copy. My boss is Chinese, one of the few with aptitude, and even he rips into them all the time. China is a culture of subdued conformism. They are not taught to think for themselves (imagine the political ramifications if they did). This does not a world beating culture make.
So it is a fallacy that they are edging ahead in technology. Look at that Chinese jet and drone - can you say F-22 and Predator knockoff? Scratch anything "innovative" from China, and I guarantee you will find a European or N American company behind the technology. Just because China built it doesn't mean China designed it.
Think about all the cheap Made In China crap you've bought that was poorly designed, broke prematurely, contaminated with lead or cadmium or melamine, etc. etc. Do you really think these people are adept enough to take over the world? Marvin the Martian has a better chance.
@ Mike: They don't have to take over the world, the current world leaders just have to keep fucking themselves over enough that China wins simply because it has not fucked itself up as hard as America.
“If I wanted to teach myself economics (including the mathematics) what would be best book to start with”.
Barro’s “Macroeconomics” is a very good textbook. It targets the big interesting macroeconomics problems, but from a neoclassical perspective. His “Economic Growth” textbook is good also, but fairly heavy reading. Varian’s “Intermediate Microeconomics” is a good overview of microeconomics.
If you need help with mathematics, then “Mathematics for Economists” by Simon and Blume is fairly comprehensive, everything you need to know about maths is in this book.
All true, but China has a huge surplus of STEM graduates. Many of them are unemployed or unemployed.
ReplyDeleteRemember that the commie government drives people into these majors and then allocates jobs afterward. It is hardly a free market.
And there's no accounting for the quality of those degrees. In the US, we see the very best China has to offer. We also get the cream of the crop from Europe, Latin America, and the rest of Asia. It gives the false impression that these peoples are geniuses and we are a bunch of dolts.
The best educated people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Korea, Colombia, etc. are from their ELITE UPPER CLASS. They are extremely bright people, but they never faces any real competition and never had any disadvantages to overcome.
The vast majority of these underdeveloped populations are barely literate.
With a population of 1.3 billion people, China could fill every engineering, math, and computer science job in the US.
For the same reason, larger countries tend to field much better Olympic teams - a larger population to draw superior athletes from.
I don't think we undersubsidize STEM majors as much as we oversubsidize BS majors. We would have better programs in STEM if we didn't divert resources away from it.
I am a proponent for the liberal arts. We do, indeed, need Sociologists. We just don't need many of them.
As I have posted before, when I studied electronic engineering in the UK, 50% of our class (120 people on the first year) were from the People's Republic of China, 25% of them were from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh; the British component was just 10% of the class; we had 7 girls (out of 120 students), only three of which were Western (2 British, 1 Spanish)...
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the sociology department was 95%-100% white, 80% female... and the 'Dance' and 'Arts' BA programmes were about the same...
When I moved to Canada for postgraduate studies, the Computer Science Department was 70% 'Asian' (the rest being east Europeans and 2 or 3 'Canadian' spotty nerds - they will not be leaders any time soon-), whilst the Sociology and Psychology Departments were 95% white...
Guess how many 'Western' Canadian 'graduates' I have seen working at McDonalds/Tim Horton's/Leon's furniture [a fair few], then guess what is the percentage of 'Asian' accountants/doctors/engineers in downtown Toronto (about 25%-40%, more like 50% in Vancouver -where I am right now-; good luck finding a 'white' doctor or a native Canadian computer wizard in most Canadian cities)...
... and we wonder why the Chinese are edging ahead in technology, whilst in the West we are tangled in 'human rights', 'people's feelings', 'environmental red-tape' and assorted BS...
China turns out engineers like the West turns out sociologists. And the bastards don't give a shit about copyright either so they happily reverse engineer everybody else's designs and them manufacture them cheaply and undercut the original product.
ReplyDeleteCap, do you think that this will lead to a devaluing of engineering degrees in the West (since they cannot compete with the Chinese).
Also, if I wanted to teach myself economics (including the mathematics) what would be the best book to start with
- Breeze
Paid for by the US taxpayer. Unless the US defaults, then the F22 was paid for by the Chinese....
ReplyDeleteAny bets the technology was passed on to ensure the funds kept flowing????
About 1/3 of the engineers I work with are Chinese. All are very book smart, but most can't communicate, have no creativity, and lack any sort of common sense. All they can do is regurgitate facts and copy copy copy. My boss is Chinese, one of the few with aptitude, and even he rips into them all the time. China is a culture of subdued conformism. They are not taught to think for themselves (imagine the political ramifications if they did). This does not a world beating culture make.
ReplyDeleteSo it is a fallacy that they are edging ahead in technology. Look at that Chinese jet and drone - can you say F-22 and Predator knockoff? Scratch anything "innovative" from China, and I guarantee you will find a European or N American company behind the technology. Just because China built it doesn't mean China designed it.
Think about all the cheap Made In China crap you've bought that was poorly designed, broke prematurely, contaminated with lead or cadmium or melamine, etc. etc. Do you really think these people are adept enough to take over the world? Marvin the Martian has a better chance.
@ Mike: They don't have to take over the world, the current world leaders just have to keep fucking themselves over enough that China wins simply because it has not fucked itself up as hard as America.
ReplyDelete- Breeze
“If I wanted to teach myself economics (including the mathematics) what would be best book to start with”.
ReplyDeleteBarro’s “Macroeconomics” is a very good textbook. It targets the big interesting macroeconomics problems, but from a neoclassical perspective. His “Economic Growth” textbook is good also, but fairly heavy reading. Varian’s “Intermediate Microeconomics” is a good overview of microeconomics.
If you need help with mathematics, then “Mathematics for Economists” by Simon and Blume is fairly comprehensive, everything you need to know about maths is in this book.