<html>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times"><b>Greetings:<br><br>
As usual I learned much from what Phil Nesbit wrote in response to my
piece on American Anti-Intellectualism. Here are a few
responses:<br><br>
Phil</b>: People study science and engineering not only for fire in the
belly, they do so because they want to eat. Students gravitate to
institutions of higher learning because after they are done with grabbing
a degree, they want to find a nice job at which to exercise their skills.
I never met, say, a geological oceanographer who was planning on going
for a master’s degree just for the shear joy of knowledge. I have never
seen a person go through the struggles of P Chem just for the unmitigated
hell of it, they did so to grab a chemical industry job.<br><br>
<b>Nick</b>: I obviously hang around people very different from
Phil. I know a lot of folks who have done an MA or even a PhD just
for the sheer (not Phil’s “shear”) joy of edification and personal
gratification. Some of our brightest students attend liberal arts
colleges where the curriculum is designed not for a profession, but for
responsible life in a liberal democratic society. <br><br>
UI students sleep and/or frown through a liberal arts core course because
our culture has not prepared for any sort of intellectual life at
all. Phil, we have designed the core curriculum precisely for those
geological oceanography students who believe that education is only a
means to making big bucks. I was an oceanography major at Oregon
State and they dragged me kicking and screaming into my first English
Comp. class. After three terms I learned how to write and think
great thoughts, and I switched to philosophy and religion and never
looked back, even when my father said I would not make any
money.<br><br>
<b>Phil</b>: So, why do the Asian nations have a larger number of
scientists and engineers graduating? It’s because that is where the jobs
in science and engineering are. And why are they hiring more scientists
and engineers? <br><br>
<b>Nick</b>: Recently Bill Gates bemoaned the fact that not enough
American students are studying computer science. Contrary to Phil’s
claim, engineers are in great demand, too. School districts are
bringing in Indian teachers to teach math and science because our
students are too lazy to major in these disciplines.<br><br>
<b>Phil</b>: But Nick asks us to believe that companies are fleeing to
Canada because the quality of our people is lower than the Canadians. All
I can say is hogwash.<br><br>
<b>Nick</b>: I did make any general claims on this issue. I simply
quoted Toyota officials that the main reason they chose to put the plant
Canada was the education level of Southern American workers.<br><br>
<b>Phil</b>: The United States has the world’s highest total
expenditure on education, outspending its closest rival by hundreds of
billions of dollars. Second, only Norway spends more per pupil than we
do.<br><br>
<b>Nick</b>: We also spend the most per capita on medical expenses
and we rank at the bottom of the industrialized world on all health
statistics, including the greatest percentage dissatisfied with their
health care. <br><br>
I also discount Phil’s figures for length of time spent in school. My
former wife is Danish and she had ten years of school (no 3-yr.
Gymansium), but in that time she mastered German and English and was a
lively conversation partner in areas such as music, contemporary
literature, and philosophy. She came from a watchmaker’s
family.<br><br>
Yes, our students spend a lot of time in school in classes that are
repetitive and not very challenging. Most of our brightest students
are bored silly. And encouraging students to go to college when they are
not prepared for it is a gigantic waste of time and money.<br><br>
Phil is correct that we should spend more time discussion this
fundamental problem.<br><br>
Nick Gier<br><br>
<br><br>
</font></html>