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Foreign Students Have Begun To Shun the United States (axios.com)
In a potential threat to future U.S. innovation, new international enrollment at U.S. colleges is down for the first time in more than a decade, according to a new report. From the report: It is the first hard sign that the Trump administration's rhetoric may be frightening away some of the world's best and brightest who traditionally have been drawn to settle and work in the U.S. Why it matters: "The Chinese whiz kid, if he can find a way to America, he'll come here. If you're good, you can make a lot of money," Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, tells Axios. "That whole set of incentives has always been tied to the immigrant stream, and we're severing that connection." By the numbers: The findings are from the Institute of International Education's annual Open Doors report and its smaller joint "snapshot" report on international enrollment. It found that new international student enrollment dropped by 3.3% for the 2016-2017 academic year, and by a far higher 6.9% in the Fall 2017 semester.
To us over here, going to the US now is like going to Germany in 1937 or something.
- I don't want to end up in a concentration camp ("black site") when flying over.
- Nor do I want to be anally fisted at touchdown. (The 9/11 terrorists did not land, now did they?)
- Or live among hyperselfish pschopaths. (I am basing this statement on research.)
- Or risk dying because I do not have $500,000 for a pill or simple operation.
- Or pay $500,000 to get an education that is free in my country.
Yes those are hyperboles. ... Sometimes. :P
The one thing the US gains short term by foreign exchange students is money for tuition, reshall expenses, and so on. However, every foreign national educated here means one spot taken from a US citizen. To boot, when the foreign national graduates, they take their knowledge back to where they came from, and compete with Americans for jobs and business.
A drop of the amount of foreign students coming to learn on US soil may not be an overarching bad thing. Americans already have it tough paying for college, much less competing against those whose government covers that, so this may be a blessing in disguise.
Since Trump's election I intentionally avoid al business (or holiday) travel to the US. At least we Europeans got to vote with our wallet. No need to support corrupt politicians, and their hateful followers. Many other pretty places in the world to visit and make friends.
I find it sad that, after half an hour, no one has challenged this:
If all these people are so smart, the "best and brightest", then why are their home countries a gigantic cesspool of filth, poverty, illiteracy, crime, violence and general misery?
Neither the article nor the intro says anything about which countries are not sending so many students to the USA. Which forces me to conclude that the AC believes that the entire world beyond the USA is "a gigantic cesspool of filth, poverty, illiteracy, crime, violence and general misery".
Unfortunately, all too many US citizens seem to agree. But it really isn't true. I live in England, which - while of course far inferior to Scotland - is a pretty decent country apart from its politicians. (And even they aren't nearly as bad as their American equivalents). Most of Europe is quite pleasant to live in (again, of course, were it not for the politicians and the ever-spreading blight of US corporations).
If you would take the trouble to read up on modern China, or Japan, or Singapore, or Russia, or Iran, or Brazil, or Mexico, or many other places, you would find that standards of living are soaring and people have a far more optimistic view of life than most in the USA.
By and large, the only countries that could accurately be described as "gigantic cesspools of filth, poverty, illiteracy, crime, violence and general misery" are those that the USA has attacked and completely, or partially, destroyed.
I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.
First of all, this article has a very biased viewpoint.
Foreign students have begun to shun the United States
That is stating that foreign students are making the choice to not attend schools in the United States. The data says no such thing. It is likely the same number of students desire to be educated in the United States as before, but there there are other factors that stand in their way (like having to enter the country through the legal processes).
Further, the article states "worth noting" (IE if they didn't state it they would be too blatantly guilty of expressing their bias without proper facts) that the big schools are affected "much less" than smaller schools that do not have Ph.D. programs. So considering the "best and brightest" are usually those seeking Ph. D. programs at the bigger schools, well, this isn't affecting the "best and brightest" at all.
The effect was much more pronounced in the Midwest and Texas, she said, especially at schools without Ph.D. programs, and at community colleges.
Ahh, now we get to the truth of it. This is about illegal immigrants from Mexico, which were attending smaller schools like community colleges. Isn't this to be expected? If it is harder to illegally enter the United States, and immigrants actually have to follow the policies that have been in place for decades, then less immigrants will be coming in, and thus we would see a drop in foreign enrollment at these kinds of smaller colleges in that specific region of the country.
Better known as 318230.
I don't like Trump at all but I think American Colleges and Universities need to be for Americans first and foremost. I am not xenophobic but I am definitely not in favor of throwing the doors wide open to foreigners at the expense of citizens wanting a college education. I feel the same way about the importation of labor when we have the labor domestically to address industry needs. And, in the few cases where we do not, there should be programs to invest in the domestic labor force. The importation of labor is not about a lack of skills in the domestic labor pool, it's about foreigners accepting substantially less money to perform a task. Often they will accept offerings that are substantially below market value.
You actually raise some good points, and I think this is the symptom of a bigger problem. This is probably a bit of hyperbole on my part, but it seems like you are literally not allowed to be happy anymore. It like there is always someone or some group out there that seems to exist only to tell you why you should feel bad about something. It doesn't matter what your political, sexual, or religious preferences are, you MUST feel bad about something. That kind of attitude really starts to wear on you after a while and leads to a nation full of angry and unhappy people. This isn't a new phenomenon, it's been slowly growing for the past 15+ years or so, but lately it seems to be in overdrive. It's going to come to head eventually, and I wonder what will happen then.
To be fair, any politician from any country could stand in the middle of Fifth Ave. and shoot someone, and they would still have some people vote for them. A small subset of voters are just weird like that.
Trump is just irreverent and unconcerned about his image enough to state that fact, while most politicians wouldn't touch it for fear of it costing them votes. I mean I share your low opinion of him. But if you consider how politicians over the last couple decades have degenerated into not having any real fundamental ideology, instead basing their positions on whatever polls best, I can see why a lot of people would vote for Trump. The man is unlike any other politician - he forms his own opinions and isn't afraid to state them no matter how unpopular it might make him. That is one of the traits of a leader, and I can see how some people are attracted to that.
Trump made a candid statement about the reality of partisan politics, which reflects the situation on both sides. A statement which appeared not to conform to a doctrine of maintaining both a public and a private position that you would expect from a more experienced politician.
This is now to be conflated with Trump harboring homicidal tendencies and a false belief that he is above the law, and that fully half of the US population endorses this while also suffering from mental illness. This is in addition to the adjectives already used to describe the now infamous basket of deplorables.
Then, when such hyperbole gets mod +5 insightful, it only reinforces the notion that meritocracy matters little to those who put partisanship above all else to the point of becoming blind fanatics. Where there is no value to be had in honest political discourse, but only hate filled rhetoric that drives more distrust and more disinformation to the point where voting becomes purely an emotional reaction.
So no, I wouldn't completely blame someone in the rest of the civilized world for having the wrong impression.