The Great Brain Drain

Steyn Online ^ | Dec 19, 2017 | Mark Steyn

[smileyface]

As longtime readers will have noticed, I'm increasingly bored by the daily soap opera of politics, mainly because professional politicians rarely have anything to say about anything that matters. The left nominally addresses the Great Remaking of the World - from mass immigration to transgender bathrooms - by confining itself to a few bogus sentimentalist bromides ("We've always been a nation of immigrants", "Love wins") designed to assure everyone that a) "diversity lotteries" and chain migration are a good thing; and, if you're minded to bring up problematic details, b) it's inevitable, so don't bother trying to resist. The right, on the other hand, is terrified of being demonized as racist, homophobic and whatever'snextophobic, and so finds it safer to talk about corporate tax rates. For my own part, I'm inclined to agree with Ann Coulter: Everyone who screwed the pooch on this one better realize fast: All that matters is immigration...

[smileyface]

Good read...

[Aggie Mama]

Simple answer-—> Immigration and cell phones, and if I had to chose one, it would be the latter. I teach in an upper middle class school. This year’s freshman class is so painfully inept and cell phone addicted it’s become just about impossible to teach them. Students retain nothing, want everything spoonfed to them, and are not curious about the world. It’s quite sad, really. Interesting side note, the ones that don’t fall into the mold above actually read books in their spare minutes in between classes and are not on the phones.

[smileyface]

Yes, I think i-phones dumb down society, kids and adults. My 7th grader reads incessantly, and has no cell phone.

[DaveA37]

“This year’s freshman class” is so painfully inept and cell phone addicted it’s become just about impossible to teach them.

While I agree with your position about their ineptness, you mislabeled them, they are now to be called “First year students” in lieu of “freshmen”....Political correctness and all you know. Merry Christmas!

PS, you have my sympathy trying to teach those brats.

[DaveA37]

“My 7th grader reads incessantly, and has no cell phone.”..

A smart kid!!!!!

[cyclotic]

In principle, I completely agree with you.

Off topic but I need to tell you a cell phone in school story. My son is a college senior studying aerospace engineering. He had to take a psychology class last semester. He and a buddy spent the entire class playing solitaire and recording games played and win/loss ratio. It was several hundred games each.

They both got A’s.

[afraidfortherepublic]

OMG! I hope I don’t have to fly in a plane some day designed by your money/time-wasting, pseudo-engineer son! HELP!

[cyclotic]

Hey-Psychology class. His school is a geek school with only two fluffy classes. Psych and an art appreciation class that are state required. Everything else is engineering related.

Plus, maybe you should read closer. AeroSPACE. You won’t be flying in the missiles and satellites.

Aeronautical is airplanes.

Did you notice that he got an A?

[afraidfortherepublic]

I did notice the A. And I did read 'psychology'. But my eye focused on the word ENGINEER and I saw red. I'm the daughter in law, wife, mother, and grandmother of a slew of engineers and I shudder at the phonies who squeak through their classes and put the public at risk. My husband has had to work with (and manage) some of those over the years.

Mea culpa for firing back so fast and forgetting about the psychology part.

And how do you know that I'm not in training to be an astronaut?

[cyclotic]

No problem. I agree with you about inept engineers. I’m sort of a practical engineer, seat of the pants variety.

I once worked with one who couldn’t properly use a tape measure. After I marked the holes she needed to drill, she started complaining that the drill bit wouldn’t bite through aluminum. I grabbed the drill and flipped the switch from reverse to forward and said to try it now.

I truly believe that way too many engineers have absolutely zero hands on experience. In my kid’s case, he spent three seasons on a high school robotics team, all on the mechanical side actually building the robots and fabricating the components. He also spent two summers working in home remodeling for a friend of mine. This all increases problem solving and hands on skills.

As to the astronaut part, I thought it a safe bet that since we have a small astronaut force, you probably weren’t. :)

[afraidfortherepublic]

As to the astronaut part, I thought it a safe bet that since we have a small astronaut force, you probably weren’t. :)

LOLOLOL! Good for your son! Although my husband is a UC Berkeley graduate, he used to admire the men who worked for him who came from Cal Poly because they were issued tool kits as freshmen. Graduates from some schools don't seem to know which end of a hammer to use (and my husband has managed 100s of engineers across several disciplines). When my husband started at Northwestern U in 1956, his first project was to MAKE a hammer (lost wax casting). I still use it. :)

[Sam Gamgee]

Great points. The most important point is the delusion these muslim immigrants will or could even maintain the social systems of Germany, ect... I think they will be surprised how many will even be employed, let alone gainfully so. Muslims earning minimum wage are likely to pay little or nothing into the system. I think Muslims in America have a better chance. They have good support systems in place, and generally are more educated and willing to assimilate than their European cousins.