POSTED ON BEHALF OF DOUG

Bill Gates comes to Congress every year asking for a larger number of H1b Visas. Congress tells him that there is no shortage of engineers and scientists in fact many engineers are unemployed. He is accused of simply wanting to increase supply to keep wages in check.

The main reason India and China produce far more technocrats is due to the fact that that they are much larger countries not because the quality is so much better.

These imports are the top of a giant pyramid.

Funny how Doug is a rabid fan of capitalism when it suits him??  Private schools okay for the wealthy Chinese, always goes along with the open doors of student visas, so universities can charge three times as much for tuition for the wealthy foreigners. For Canada, on average for the PHD programs - 75 % are foreign students versus 25 % Canadian students. Don’t believe for a moment that the vast majority of foreign students go back to their homelands bringing their knowledge and skills to their countrymen. Otherwise, some of the third world countries would be in far better shape, especially in the areas of science and technology. In Canada, the foreign students are far too busy setting up in the future, for their families to obtained dual citizenship in the just in case scenarios of having Canada as the safe haven.  Its why Dr. Michio Kaku is quite contrary when it comes to the state of education. In one breath - education is in a poor state and in the next breath - education is in a good state.

Just 5 months ago - “Fifty percent of the top engineers and grunts doing the work in Silicon Valley are foreign-born and that is unsustainable,” Kaku says. “One day, the brain drain will reverse—it’s starting to happen. Now top scientists are starting to go back to China and back to India. That’s why our education cannot continue to be one of the worst known to science.”  http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/01/theoretical-physicist-michio-kaku-interview/

As for producing STEM graduates - on average for both Canada and United States - between 20 to 25 % covering all fields. Has not change much from the days of the 1970s, but that is because of the direction of curriculum changes concerning STEM subjects in K to 12. Just the other day, I mentioned in passing - it was not that long ago when I went to high school - I had the choice of Science and math subjects - in math - Geometry, Calculus, Trig and Algebra. Today, a single course of math with a bit of Geometry, Calculus, Trig and Algebra. To which makes it really hard to understand and do well in the sciences, of Biology, chemistry and physics. To which, far fewer high school students opt to take courses in the STEM fields at the post-secondary level, and yes at the high school level. On average, there is only 20 % of high school students opting for the pure science and math courses at the high school level.

By the way - China is also home to 60 % of their population classified as general labour or the domestic migrant worker force who are generally at the education level of grade 8, and will never go beyond grade 9. By the age of 14, they too are sent off to start work, just like it is in India. Both countries maintained domestic migrant worker force to maintain cheap wages by limiting their education levels at the grade 8 level. As for the growing middle class and wealthy of both countries, they have always had the options of high education levels within or outside of their countries.

A study - in part - “By 2008 certain imbalances in the engineering and technology labour market had become more
evident. There were significant skills shortages in some regions and in a number of technical fields.
These shortages were exacerbated by an apparent worsening of the gap between the skills that
employers required and the skill profile of new entrants into the engineering and technology labour
market. In some regions skills shortages co-existed with a more than adequate supply of formally
qualified job-seekers.
Globalization also intensified during the period. Among the consequences of globalization is a
restructuring of earnings. Globalization increases the premium on those engineering and technology
skills that are in short supply internationally while, at the same time, generating downward pressure on standard or ‘commodity’ engineering and technology skills.”  http://www.engineerscanada.ca/files/w_Engineering_and_Technology_Labour_Mark_Study.pdf

And here - “We have always been getting a good number of students applying from outside Canada, but it’s difficult to get on the radar screen of our own students,” says Adel Sedra, the outgoing dean of engineering at the University of Waterloo. International students are welcome and encouraged, but the school pays their tuition, making them expensive to take on. More important than the relative cost, says the dean, is that the school is failing in its mission to train Canadians who want to stay here and contribute to the economy. “I haven’t done as well as I would have liked,” he says. Indeed, a report conducted for Engineers Canada shows that by 2012, in most provinces and in most specialties, there will be a shortage of engineers with five years or more experience.”  http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2011/09/13/canadians-arent-keen-on-graduate-engineering/

This bridge has been crossed before, Doug:  China and India have superior science and math curricula.  My hubby’s a retired chemist, and has said that a staggering # of science papers come out of India, especially in the maths.  With the poorly taught math in the States, it’s most likely that what Bill Gates needs is something way beyond the U.S. congress’ depth of understanding.  For that matter, the same holds true in law, where, because of so much forensic evidence presented in courts nowadays, many judges and lawyers are in over their heads. 
Despite congress’ lack of understanding, I can’t believe that they would be so stupid, as to turn down Bill Gates.  The same holds true in industry, where accountants hold the purse strings and oftentimes won’t allow money spent on research because they simply can’t be made to understand.  Over here in N. A. we’re our own worst enemies.