In this thread, we talk about the State of the Union Address
 

My fiance is FLIPPING OUT about the comment that we ship away foreign graduates. He is in one of the top 10 graduate programs in his area of study, and is one of the only American students. He says that EVERY SINGLE foreign student came here to study with ZERO intention of staying here to work. And I believe it; it's a pretty sweet deal.

I took a shower and am watching Discovery Channel. :p

I'm also surprised that healthcare got nothing but a cursory mention.

TWO THUMBS UP to reining in medical malpractice lawsuits.

And I didn't hear anything about that, although he did talk about education for a long time, and I may have missed it.

Ahhhhh, this:

"Race to the Top is the most meaningful reform of our public schools in a generation. For less than one percent of what we spend on education each year, it has led over 40 states to raise their standards for teaching and learning. These standards were developed, not by Washington, but by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country. And Race to the Top should be the approach we follow this year as we replace No Child Left Behind with a law that is more flexible and focused on what’s best for our kids."

Counter-argument: My mother came to this country from the UK in the early 1960s for her residency. She stayed and married an American co-resident. :p

I wasn't overly impressed with the speech as a whole. He had some good points (and others that I disagreed with), but there was nothing earth-shattering or inspiring about it.

I loved the salmon analogy.

I hope that the spirit of cooperation continues because the direction he laid out tonight is the most moderate and reasonable stuff I've heard from our government in years and years.

In my day, living in the international dorm at my university, every foreign student was there in hopes of staying here and most did, whether legally or illegally. This is also my experience when we attempt to hire statisticians, particularly, in my department. My department is not willing to sponsor people and we toss most of the resumes we get because they are from students who are going to graduate soon and are looking for sponsorship so that they can stay. It may vary by type of degree or the country they are from.

ETA: Promised myself I'd be in bed early but I'm dying to hear the tea party response.

Because there aren't jobs for PhD's here in the US. At least in my program, I'd have made more staying in the workforce than going back to school, by a long-shot.

If it was Michelle Bachmann's response it was pre-recorded so I wouldn't bother. Also it doesn't seem like much of a response that way. Unless they changed their mind about that.

Wonder if this is a bit of a chicken or the egg thing. If the only realistic way to stay here is often to marry a citizen or be in a VERY specialized field (or get hired by an employer willing to jump a lot of hoops) then most people probably don't plan on staying in the first place so the people who do come aren't those who would like to stay. Perhaps.

Anecdotal evidence time: my big's husband stayed in the country following his graduation and has continued to work on his green card. So it clearly does happen both ways, I'd be curious about the numbers.

My department is always looking for PhD's and has a hard time finding those who don't need sponsorship.


Tea Party response: Interesting comment about the price of gas skyrocketing. I found this timeline:

April 21, 2008—Gasoline prices jump to a record $3.50 a gallon in some parts of the U.S.

May 15, 2008— While many people were shocked at $3 a gallon, they were not prepared for what was about to happen as prices shot up to nearly $4 a gallon. Public hysteria sets in as consumers begin using Gas Buddy to find the lowest gas prices in town.

May 21, 2008—Oil price skyrockets to $130 a barrel. Holly cow!!!

June 9, 2008—Retail gas prices rise above $4 per gallon.

June 15, 2008—Speculators continue to push the price of crude oil. Consumers begin to literally run out of gas attempting to stretch their dollar. Hybrid vehicles are becoming a hot commodity. Stories of gas stations running out of gas begins to circulate, creating greater hysteria among the public.

July 7, 2008—Crude oil prices settled-in at a new record of $147 per barrel. The U.S. average price for regular gasoline climbs to an all-time high of $4.11 per gallon. Road trip style vacations are put on hold for many summer travelers.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...ces-review.php

And doesn't that sort of explain why the foreign PhD's aren't sticking around?

What field are you in? I just read that, in engineering, 70% of the PhD's are awarded to non-citizens, and most leave the country afterwards.

We're always looking for PhD Biostatisticians. I believe that was Obama's point though.. that we make it hard for them to stick around.

I find the differences between the Tea Party response and the Republican response to be interesting. It has me wondering whether the Tea Party will split the Republicans into two factions and make it impossible for them to win a Presidential election next time because they are split. This is sort of what Ross Perot did in '96.

I was inspired by the speech. I liked the whole "reinvent" theme. Ford has done it - other companies need to follow suit. But the thing is, they can't do it without the government's help. And by that I don't mean bailouts - I mean government policy that supports American jobs, manufacturing and exports. Companies aren't locating their operations, manufacturing, etc. in other countries because of their educated workforces - they're doing it because it's cheaper for them! So I'm tired of hearing from two presidents now that educating the American workforce will take care of the problem. It won't! I want to hear a president talk about how they are going to convince companies that an educated, higher-paid American worker is worth it, and then I want to see them put it into action!